Innocence From Ashes
by Ren421
Summary: Sequel to The Slave of Sound; SasuNaru. Yaoi, and more fluff than is healthy. Naruto has been brought back from oblivion through Kyuubi. And this time, a certain Nine Tailed Fox is going to make sure his beloved kit is safe and happy.
1. Chapter 1

The Slave of Sound

**Title:** Innocence From Ashes

**Fandom:** Naruto

**Rating:** NC-17

**Pairing:** SasuNaru

**Warnings:** Yaoi. Lots of yaoi. And probably more fluff than is healthy.

**Note: **AU

**Summary: **From the pain and anguish of being the Slave of Sound, Naruto has been brought back from oblivion through Kyuubi. And this time, a certain Nine Tailed Fox is going to make sure his beloved kit is safe and happy. Even if that means bringing back Sasuke too.

Innocence From Ashes

Sequel to The Slave of Sound

Chapter 1

He was formed, once more, from the maelstrom, and arrived from the north in a streak of fire. The resulting impact formed a crater several feet in diameter, and almost as many deep. The surrounding forest was leveled for miles around, leaving smoking and charred stumps, instantly fried forest denizens, and the sonic boom broke every northern facing window in Konoha, almost a hundred miles distant.

Even as he staggered, fur scorched, ears and tails smoking, from the crater, whining and limping, it almost seemed fitting that as he began and ended, in fire and blood and chaos, so too he began anew. The great fox, now slightly smaller than a pony, sides swollen and quivering, was hard pressed to distance himself from his point of contact with the living world. What he carried was too valuable to be squandered on useless humans. Far too precious to be wasted on the ignorance and fears of mankind. They'd had their chance with his kit once, and had wasted it. They would not get the chance to do so again.

He knew he was diminished; in size as well as in power and destructiveness, but he had not forgotten a single thing, and he was still a force to be reckoned with. And though he mourned that he was no longer the feared Nine Tailed Demon Lord, his twenty two years squirreled away in the most amazing creature ever to grace history had completely changed him. He would live with his new status, his new place in the grand scheme of things, if he could have his kit once more, whole and happy and carefree.

Groaning in pain, driven by forces even he couldn't really understand, the great fox used his cunning and instinct to find that which he needed; a deep cave, narrow of entrance, but dry and sandy and snug. He burrowed deep into his new lair, and fell to the side, swollen sides heaving in agony.

His back legs jerked, kicked out, and his head tossed, keening and yowling in pain. But it would be worth it. He knew it would be. Something precious had been stolen from the world, and he would bring it back. Pain rippled outwards from his quivering belly. His anguished howls bounced back from the walls, and what cunning and knowledge he possessed was slowly eaten away by a force as ancient as time itself, and a miraculous as the heavens above.

He gave one last scream, shuddered, and in a rush of blood and fluid, the light was returned to the world. The light, and the night.

The fox panted, curled tightly around his small litter, and let the pain recede. There were a few more pangs, a last and final rush, and he was done. And never again would he be the demon lord. He'd lost too much life force in this miracle. Lost too much power to bring back that which was stolen. But it was a trade he was willing to make.

Numbly, he licked his two new creatures clean, as well as himself, and the nest. He gave a soft nudge to his golden kit, filled with affection and love. Then he turned to his dark one, sniffed it suspiciously, then nuzzled him as well. His kit needed this darkling. So he would forgive, and nurture. Exhausted from his labors, the fox, no longer lord, no longer great, but still filled with a wealth of cunning, knowledge and a bit of memory, curled about his family and fell into a deep sleep.

He was woken a bit later by an insistent nudging against his furred belly. Sleepily he watched his bright and blonde kit, nuzzling him hungrily. With a nudge of his cold nose, he directed his favorite, chuckling softly to himself. Of course, his kit was always hungry.

Now the other little creature, he wasn't so sure about. He greatly distrusted this dark creation of his, what he could only think of as a black wolf, and wondered once more why he'd done it. But he instinctively knew that as his kit was bright and light and like the sun, this little cub was dark and night and like the moon. That they were two halves of the same whole. As much as he loved his little blonde kit, he knew the youngling needed this dark one to be happy.

And his kit deserved to be happy, and by all the fox held dear, he would make it so.

He laid his muzzle on his tail, which was wrapped securely about his little litter, and regarded his strange family.

They were furless, weak, and directionless, but he knew this would change. He tenderly licked the pink exposed rump of his golden kit, and purred again. Pity humans had no tails. They were magnificent, tails. His kit had tails, he'd always had tails, but they only came out in moments of duress. The fox wondered briefly if this would change, now that he'd left his unmistakable stamp upon the two younglings nuzzling his masculine but nurturing chest. He sleepily pondered the strangeness that was human, and chuckled softly to himself to suddenly find himself with a litter of babies. They were such tiny helpless things, he was amazed humanity had risen to such a position of dominance in the world.

Though he was a little hungry himself, the fox was too tired to hunt, and his litter was still too new, too tender, too vulnerable to be left alone. The time would come, more quickly than anyone could realize, and he would have his fill of meat and sparkling spring water. The forest abounded with game; he could hear them, smell them, even sense them all around. Soon he would be able to assuage his appetite as well as those of his kit and cub, who would far too quickly require more than the strange milk he possessed right now. Yes, soon… soon…

The fox curled more tightly around his litter, buried his nose in his tail, and slipped back into slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 2

Naruto was currently in the very last stages of childhood, just before the onset of awkward adolescence, and he was loving it. If his life was a little unconventional, well, that was alright. And if not every blond haired, blue eyed boy didn't have a fox the size of a pony for a loving parent, well, he neither knew that, nor would he have cared if he did. Kyuubi was the best Chichiue anyone could have, and he was content. Specially since he had the dark, sometimes dour, and always competitive Sasuke as a littermate. Ah, yes, life was very good indeed.

Naruto didn't remember dying a scant week ago, nor did he remember his highly unorthodox rebirth. He didn't remember his first mouthful of Kitsune milk, though he could still vaguely recall suckling from his Chichiue's furry breast hungrily and greedily. He could still remember how he and Sasuke would tussle for the fullest teat, and how the milk was just a little more sweeter when he won than when he didn't. But that was okay, too. Because he loved Sasuke with every fiber of his being, and didn't mind sharing both sweet milk and sweeter victory.

He didn't really remember his second day of life, as a sweet and plump infant, gurgling contently in the nest of his Chichiue's body and tail, rolling around with an equally plump and innocent littermate, both of them waving their tiny fists, and kicking their pink little feet. He couldn't recall the first time he'd gently gnawed Sasuke's dimpled fist, nor that second day when Sasuke had likewise gnawed his. Neither of them had really known what a hand was, nor whose was whose. And if the vague recollection of scooting about on his hands and knees that day was a little vague, well, it really wasn't worth mentioning now, was it?

He did, however, remember his third day, watching Sasuke pull himself up and stagger about. He found the whole affair vastly amusing, and had laughed and chuckled until tears rolled from his big blue eyes. But Sasuke on his feet could move quicker than a littermate on his hands and knees, and that was not to be endured. However, his loving Sasuke had been there to pull him right up along side, and had been with him for his first tottering footsteps.

And the next day, why, just three days ago, he'd had his first taste of meat. Chichiue's milk, though still as beloved and sweet as ever, just wasn't filling enough anymore. And so, like the loving and nurturing parent he was, Kyuubi had procured a plump and healthy deer, and presented them with their first solid food. The meat was raw, and messy, and tasted horrible. He'd choked and gagged, and thought he might spew. And how Sasuke had laughed at him. He'd almost cried, he'd been so bereft at that. But his littermate had comforted him, without apologizing of course, and all was well. Apologies were big things, Naruto knew, big and sometimes scary, and so, could wait until they were really needed. Which, hopefully, they would never be. But his Chichiue had taken pity on him, and on Sasuke, who had found the raw and bloody meat almost as unpalatable. Naruto had nobly refrained from teasing his littermate. Nobly, I tell you. Being able to tease Sasuke was no easy feat. But he loved his littermate, with all that he had inside him, and so achieved that little miracle. Anyway, Kyuubi had taken pity on them both, and had breathed a long and smoky jet of fire on the meat, until it was brown and rich and tasty. Oh, yes, he well remembered the first heavenly bites of roasted venison. Oh! And that was the day their Chichiue had dragged home clothes. They weren't the ones he was wearing now, naturally. Those were far too small to fit his robust and growing form. At first he hadn't liked them at all. They were confining, a little itchy, and he couldn't feel Sasuke's smooth and creamy skin against him so warm and silky through them. But, they did have their advantages. It hurt less to fall down, when tender knees and elbows had something covering them. And it was so much more comfy at night, when the cool and starry breezes chilled him when he rolled away from his snuggly littermate, and warm Chichiue in his sleep.

And he definitely remembered yesterday! He would never, ever forget yesterday. It was the first time Sasuke had kissed him. It was so sweet, and his littermate's lips were so warm and soft, and made him all tingly squirmy in his tummy. Oh, yes indeedy. Until then, his favorite things to do had been to run and play and tussle with his Sasuke, but now… Mercy. He quickly grew addicted to his littermate's lips, to those exciting kisses that seemed to last forever. And when Sasuke held him so close, and so tight, it was like being in heaven. He would never, ever get enough.

Oh my, yes. Life was so good. It was yummy and scrumptious and delicious. Delicious was his new word of the day. Sasuke had taught it to him. He'd said that Naruto was so delicious, that he could just eat him up. Sometimes it was annoying how Sasuke seemed to do everything first, and knew so much more than him. It was really quite unfair, seeing as they had been born on the same day. But such was life, and though his littermate did lord it over him more than a little, well, Sasuke more than made up for it by loving him so much, and being so protective and possessive about him. He had taken him to get new clothes, since yesterday's were so tight. Why, he couldn't even get his pants on. Not that Sasuke had minded so much. He so loved to touch the blonde's body, and the less clothes Naruto wore, the happier his littermate seemed to be. Which, in turn, naturally, made Naruto happier. Not that Sasuke's kisses, and these new and exciting caresses and hugs weren't ecstasy in and of themselves. Because they were. How he cried out at the explosion of sensation that had resonated through his body when Sasuke took him to the river to swim. Only, they'd never got in the water. They'd been too tired after the pleasure, and had dozed until lunch.

So, life was good, it had started good, and would stay good. Both his Chichiue and Sasuke had told him so. They had promised to make it so, and Naruto was content to let them. And tomorrow promised to be even better. Chichiue had laughed and said he was shooting up like a weed, and it a few days, why, he would be a man. Goodness! Wouldn't that be wonderful? In any even, he would be tall enough to reach that farmer's clothesline himself, and this time he would choose the color of his clothes. Hmm… something orange, he thought. Yes. It was such a bright and cheerful color, and he was so fond of it! Sasuke liked the darker shades, but ah, for Naruto, it was life and verve and dash all the way!

Yes, he was really looking forward to tomorrow. It was exciting to imagine what new discoveries he and his littermate would make, because life, and the world, was so very interesting. It would be cool to see how many inches had stretched between his growth mark on the big willow by their den from today, and if it would be a bigger number than from the one the day before that. And what was more, and here Naruto's knees grew weak with desire, he wondered what new pleasures Sasuke would introduce him to next. Yes…. He loved life, and couldn't wait to live some more.

Would tomorrow _never_ come?


	3. Chapter 3

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 3

While Naruto remembered nothing of their previous lives, Sasuke did. Surely, when he'd been reborn, he'd had no more wit or memories than his 'littermate' did. But when he slept, even that first day, he dreamt things that distressed him, even if he didn't understand. He'd wake, and feel a drive so strong it was obsessive, to get close to Naruto. Get close and hold on tight, little eyes screwed tight lest tears escape.

By the second day, he'd noticed that Chichiue treated him differently than the fox did Naruto. Naruto was the golden child, the prince of the litter, the heir apparent. And Sasuke was… Sasuke didn't know what he was in his father's eyes. Surely, Chichiue kept him fed and clothed, and gave him the shelter and succor of his warm body at night, and the protection of his fierce teeth and claws by day, but not once did Chichiue ever purr when he nursed, as the fox did with Naruto. Never did Chichiue lavish up to hours of tender grooming upon him as he did with his sibling.

At first this hurt, but then during the third day, the fox had pulled him aside after Naruto had dozed off after a wonderful session of deep drinking and loving grooming and nuzzling. Chichiue had taken him to the back of the den and looked deep into his eyes.

All the hurt, the resentment, it all melted away, and when the fox finally looked away, Sasuke was sobbing, staring down at his still slightly chubby hands, unable to bear it all. He'd fallen into his Chichiue's eyes, and in the whirling votex behind those eyes, he'd been taken into the very darkness of his dreams. Only to find they weren't dreams at all. But memories. Memories of crimes so heinous, so terrible, he'd been executed for them. And he'd gone to his death gladly, willingly, his heart singing with joy. Joy that he could finally, in some small part, atone for it all by dying.

_Naruto!_

And Sasuke's heart, his spirit, was crushed anew. How could he have done what he had to his most precious, his most beloved person? How could he have done what he did to Naruto? Of all people?

The fox make a soft sound in the back of his throat, and gently nudged his cub. "He is ours to love and protect," Chichiue told him. "And this time around, you will be all that you should have been then. It is a second chance. Don't waste it."

Afterwards, his Chichiue was a little gentler around him. Not, of course, to the extent he was with Naruto, but still… And Sasuke was grateful. No one save Naruto had more cause to hate him than Kyuubi did. And yet, the fox had given up even more of himself to bring Sasuke back too. And was generous enough to feed and clothe and care for him. And he understood. Naruto was theirs… to love, and cherish and protect. And most importantly, to make happy.

And this time, Sasuke would not fail.

But even with the accelerated growth, Sasuke was still just a very young child, and it was a heavy burden; the knowledge of what he'd done with his first life, and to whom he'd done it. Thankfully, after the first memory surge, they had all died back to what they'd been before; vague stirrings of regret, unease, and fear. But now he knew those feelings had sprung from a lost yet not quite forgotten past.

And of course, Naruto noticed the change in his beloved littermate. "Sas'ke?" he sniffled, nose glowing cherry red, and eyes moist and grieving. "No sadness, 'kay? Love you so much. Smile for me." And Naruto had thrown himself upon the Uchiha and had cuddled and squirmed and laid many wet and smacking kisses wherever he could.

And Sasuke had crushed Naruto in his toddler's arms, and had felt his heart throb fiercely. Yes, it was another chance. One that would be very different. Naruto would never know anguish again.

The next day brought more learning and growing, and Sasuke was helpless to do anything but watch Naruto. Beautiful, bewitching Naruto. This time around, Naruto had more than enough to eat, was wondrously smothered with constant love and affection from his two companions, and was the unstated but uncontested hub of their universe. He grew tall and strong, being almost of the same height as Sasuke.

And there were other changes too; delicious, exciting changes. Naruto's body, as smooth and sleek and silky as ever, was delightfully responsive. Sasuke was enthralled as he ran his hands all over that warm velvet, and was rewarded not with stiffness and stoic endurance, but with resonating purrs of pleasure, mewling cries of need, and a mouth and body eager and willing for any pleasurable games that Sasuke could introduce.

Their first kiss was intoxicating; Sasuke had immediately become drunk from it, and hopelessly addicted. They started with warm, slightly moist lingering kisses, firmly closed but touching lips. Over the next two days, they would grow to be more open, deeper, wetter, and hotter. Naruto had squeaked the first time Sasuke's tongue touched his, drew back with a wrinkled brow, and then dove right back in, matching his partner's ardor with eager aggression. Now whenever Naruto lay in Sasuke's arms, which was almost constantly, and still not enough for the Uchiha, they were kissing; long drugging passionate kisses, and neither of them cared if Kyuubi saw them or not. If anything, Chichiue encouraged their youthful passion, admonishing Sasuke that it was his responsibility to love and please his kit. And Sasuke was more than willing.

And their play changed drastically. From rough and tumble mock fights, to sensual explorations of each other's bodies. Sasuke quickly discovered and memorized the spots that made him giggle and thrash, to the ones that made Naruto arch and mew and purr so loudly. And then, the day at the pond; Sasuke had lured Naruto there with promises of shining water and playful swimming. But they made it as far as the sandy jut of land by the shimmering waters, and no farther; the moment Naruto slipped from his shorts and shirt, Sasuke lost his head. By all that was holy, Naruto tasted so damn good! The buttery, slightly salty tang of throat and belly, and then he scented something dark and earthy, musky and enthralling… eagerly, he'd traced it to it's source; between the tanned and perfect thighs of his Naruto. Hard flesh, throbbing heat, and it was suddenly in his mouth, and Naruto bucked and cried, and then had stiffened with a scream that echoed from the shifting leaves of the trees and the pebbly hillsides surrounding them. And then Sasuke was drinking, drinking, drinking and it was more delicious than the sweetest berries he'd ever tasted, thicker than the cream stolen from the farmer's churns, and more filling that the tastiest roast provided by their Chichiue. Sasuke had gorged himself, shuddering and shaking, gripping Naruto's knees so hard he'd have left lingering bruises if his blonde didn't heal so amazingly fast. He'd shuddered and gave a muffled groan, grinding himself against that wondrous silken warmth until sticky heat blossomed in his suddenly ill fitting shorts.

Fuck!

They'd collapsed in a tangled sweaty heap and fallen asleep, not waking until the shadows were small, to find their Chichiue looming over them, and then escorting them drowsily back to the warm security of their den. They'd devoured the meal waiting for them, played and tussled, and Sasuke loved every second of it. Oh, god, he's so damn warm and strong! And he's mine… mine to love, mine to protect… all mine… Then the shadows grew long and Naruto was curled up in the snug haven of Chichiue's glorious red tails with him, where he belonged. But sleep was far away, having indulged in such a long and deep nap earlier. And once again, Sasuke was compelled to hear _his_ littermate purr and sigh, arch and writhe, and then _his_ beautiful blonde was screaming again, and Sasuke was moaning in bliss to taste that intoxicating essence that was _his_ Naruto.

And thus, six days passed in halcyon enchantment, for all of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 4

Sasuke came awake suddenly, with his heart pounding violently. Gasping, he tried to sit up, but the thunder in his ears, the fire in his veins weakened him. Heat and wetness surrounded his most sensitive part, and ebony eyes rolled wildly to find an unruly thatch of blonde hair between his quivering thighs, dark lashes completely closed to rest upon flushed whiskered cheeks.

"N… Naruto…" He moaned, unable to conceive how something could feel so unimaginably good as his love's mouth exactly where it was right now.

Warm hands pinned his now bucking hips to the sandy floor of the nest, and there was a long, very hard pull on his twitching organ. Suddenly there was a white hot explosion in the cradle of Sasuke's hips, his vision became filled with fiery streaks that blurred to such a brightness that he had to close his eyes. His heart was throbbing in his ears, in his cock, and in his breast as he came violently into that dark sucking heat.

Naruto leaned back slightly, never releasing the powerful force on his littermate's penis. He drew out every single drop from within, and still wanted more. Sasuke groaned, twitched, and finally caught the smaller male up in his arms and pulled him up to his lips, breaking the contact with a noisy smacking.

"Koi…" He gasped into those sweet and luscious lips, filled with the taste of Naruto, and something darker, slightly bitter… his own pleasure. The double armful of whimpering and squirming blonde gave him almost as much pleasure as the orgasm he'd just experienced.

He rolled Naruto onto his back, pressing himself against all that delicious passion, and felt the other boy shudder hard, and sticky heat flooded between their bodies in several pulsating bursts. Sasuke smiled against Naruto's throat as the other threw back his head and gave a warbling cry of completion.

"By all that's holy," he whispered softly against that vulnerable column of warmth, "I love you so much…" Feeling swamped by waves of contentment, he held and stroked and kissed his beautiful littermate as the other boy slowly and dreamily came down from his pleasurable high.

"Mmmmmm…" Naruto began with a throaty purr, resonate and content, "Now I see why you like it so much, Teme."

The affectionate insult made Sasuke's heart contract suddenly with a burst of happy heat. He couldn't help but wonder why being called a bastard by his beloved would bring him such joy, but he'd learned much earlier to never try to ferret out the whys and wherefores of such things, because then his nightmarish dreams would slam into his head. No, he'd learned to just take each miraculous moment as they came, and enjoy them utterly.

"Took you long enough, Dobe," he responded thoughtlessly, and then suddenly felt so sick he broke out in a cold sweat. He gripped the boy in his arms tighter and swallowed thickly. "Fuck, Naruto, I'm sorry I called you that!"

Naruto leaned back, a golden brow arching in confusion, then his nose scrunched in concern to see the stricken sheen of tears in the dark haired boy's suddenly haunted eyes. In all honesty, the term had given him a warm glow of contentment. It had felt so right to hear that word come out of Sasuke's mouth, directed at him. Right and proper.

"Why?" He asked softly, leaning his head up to nuzzle the other boy, a soft purr beginning in the back of his throat. "I liked it. Besides, I'm your dobe, right? So it's okay. Right?"

Sasuke felt the happy grin against his jaw, and began to relax slowly, more than a little confused again why such a simple and innocently returned insult would bring him to a state of terrified panic.

Supple fingers speared through dark hair, and Naruto chuckled softly as he began to anoint Sasuke's face with moist kisses. "Besides, if you call me dobe, I can go on calling you teme, Teme."

He gave a tender, unsuspecting earlobe an affectionate, possessive nip. "Just don't let me hear you calling anyone but me a dobe, got that?"

Sasuke gave a gentle growl and snatched a quick and hot kiss from his dobe. "Fine, Dobe, as long as I'm the only teme in your life."

Naruto suddenly rolled Sasuke onto his back, and stared intently down into those beautiful dark eyes looking up at him. "You will always be the only one in my life, Sasuke." The blonde's voice was a husky, sensual thread in his ears.

Warm lips suddenly descended, and Sasuke responded to the searching kiss. Their mouths parted with a moist sound, and Naruto smiled tenderly. "I just love you so much, Sasuke. Promise me we'll always be together like this. Promise me you'll never leave me. Promise me."

The sudden heat in the blonde's voice both startled and pleased Sasuke. "I promise, Naruto. I will never leave you, and we will face the world together, forever." He wondered if maybe, somehow, a little of their shared past had leaked into Naruto's subconscious, and fervently hoped not. He never, ever wanted his love to feel even a split second's unease by that terrible time.

Naruto gave him a brilliant smile of happiness. "Good." Then he chuckled, pinched Sasuke's rear, and leapt up, leaning down to offer his hand. "Let's go swimming, the sand's starting to stick, and you smell funny."

Sasuke yelped, grabbed that hand, and tried to pull the blonde off his feet. And the strangely intense moment passed. They tussled playfully for a moment, then began to walk slowly to the pond.

Sasuke suddenly realized, with a feeling akin to horrified shock, that Naruto was now just as tall as he was. Surely Naruto wouldn't surpass him in height, surely…

After a quick dip at the pond, and then another once because, oh god, Sasuke, so damn good, I'm gonna… I'm gonna… and fuck, Naruto, why do you have to taste so damn good? Then laughing and cavorting, they darted through the trees, the soft breeze slowly drying the water droplets from their naked bodies, until they came to the wooden post and crosspiece fence of the farm.

Sasuke's playfulness vanished, and he pulled Naruto close, running possessive hands over sun warmed flesh. "Shhh…" He cautioned.

From the moment Chichiue had deemed them big enough to get their own clothes, he'd admonished Sasuke to be careful, not to let the farmer see them. Not to let any human see them. It was too dangerous. The farmer could take Naruto away from them. And Sasuke took this threat very seriously indeed.

No one would take Naruto away from him. No one!

The mere thought made his heart pulse, his hands itch, and a soft growl to be born in the back of his throat.

So while Naruto stood obediently quiet in his arms, Sasuke extended all his senses. His nose twitched, ears sharpened, and he half closed his eyes to better feel for anyone. When he was satisfied, he led his blonde down the lane, under the heavy nodding blossoms of wisteria over the gate, and around the back wall.

There, flapping softly in the breeze, were rows of clothes.

Naruto's eyes glistened to see a bright orange shirt waving teasingly at him from the far end. Just the thing!

He dismissed Sasuke's concerns, for his dark littermate, though very beloved, was such a cynical creature. Why would anyone want to harm him? So with a happy chirp, he threw himself down between two lines of crisp and summer scented sheets, making a beeline for the shirt he just had to have.

"Naruto!" Sasuke hissed in furious consternation, but before he could even take a step, hell broke loose.

"Gotcha!" A loud, male voice bellowed, followed by the frightened squeal of Naruto, as the blonde was caught up in the brawny arms of the burly farmer, who's rough, homespun shirt was rough and painful on his smooth skin.

"Sasuke!" Naruto screamed, writhing in the man's imprisoning grip, scratching, biting, and howling like a banshee. Yellow fur exploded from the tips of Naruto's ears.

"Hold still, you little varmint!" The farmer shouted, astonished at the sudden ferocity of the child in his arms.

"Narutooooooooo…." Sasuke's eyes dilated, became stained with crimson, and a fierce howl burst from his throat. He lowered himself, and didn't think anything odd of suddenly dropping to his hands and knees, and his fury completely obliterated the sudden pain that flushed his body. He shuddered, itched fiercely, and then clods of dirt shot out from under his black paws as he lunged forward to protect his mate.

"What the hell!" The farmer gasped, as tawny fur rippled wildly, turning flesh to satiny gold. He no longer held a screaming boy in his arms, but a yelping and snapping fox kit, complete with long black whiskers, satiny ears and a silky, bushy tail, both tipped with red.

Shocked and more than a little scared, he released the creature enough to hold him away at arms length, strong fingers buried deep in the gold fur at the back of the frightened fox's neck.

Then the man screamed as a wolf cub, sleek and black as night, leapt up and locked its gleaming fangs around the arm that held the kit. He dropped the little fox, which bounced with a started yip, and then began snapping at his ankles.

He shook the wolf off, flinging Sasuke hard into a barrel of rainwater at the base of the clothesline. The cub gave a yelping cry, and staggered to the right. Naruto leapt over, and drew one golden paw over the black cub's back, and began to growl menacingly, wrinkling his little nose with rage, teeth bared threateningly.

The farmer held his bleeding arm, breathing hard, and stared at the two small creatures with wide eyes. He'd hidden in the clothesline to scare the bejesus out of the string of little boys that he'd spied stealing clothes for the last three days; for a dare, he'd suspected. Shaking hands reached for the shotgun leaning against the aforementioned barred. The moment it was in his hands, he lifted it sharply and drew a bead on the two animals.

Sasuke sensed that this strange thing was a great threat, shook off the stars and fans dancing around his head, and then leaped lithely over Naruto, to position himself between the kit and the farmer, likewise snarling and growling.

There was a thundering roar, and the farmer almost wet himself to see the biggest, reddest fox leaping over the fence rail as if it were nothing. Nine tails waved behind it wildly. Red and black eyes burned with a hellish light, and fangs as long as his hands dripped as it continued to advance at a frightening rate, howling in fury.

"K…Kyuubi…" The farmer wailed, the gun dropping from numb fingers, and he began to stumble backwards in terror. The gun was useless; the three animals had no idea it was only loaded with rock salt, not cartridges. He'd only wanted to scare the boys into leaving his family's clothes alone. He'd never expected to be faced with children turning into animals, or the resurgence of the dreaded Ninetails!

As the farmer became snarled in the sheets and fell back, screaming as he landed helplessly on his back, the two little creatures darted towards the great fox, yelping all the way. Little paws tore up the grass in their haste and speed. They quickly took refuge under the sheltering bulk of their Chichiue.

Kyuubi had halted his progress as soon as his children were safely by his side. He lowered his head, growling menacingly.

The farmer thought longingly of his beautiful wife and household of lively children, whimpered softly, and closed his eyes. Who would protect them now that Kyuubi was back to rampage? If only he could see them one more time…

When nothing happened, the farmer opened his eyes, to see all three creatures running away. Shocked, he watched the fox snatch up the kit first, fling it onto his back, then doing the same with the wolf cub. Both little animals hung on for dear life as the Kyuubi leapt over the fence once more. Seconds later they were lost to sight in the thick line of trees that bordered the fence. A few more moments later, and the crashing and pounding of the nine tailed fox were heard no more.

Shakily, the farmer slowly got up, gripped his bleeding and aching arm, and stared blankly at where the trio had vanished. He couldn't fathom why he was still alive, and not resting in well chewed bits inside the demon's belly.

Then he shook off his daze, and ran off to spread the alarm.


	5. Chapter 5

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 5

Tsunade listened to the unlikely tirade from an obviously overwrought farmer with a hint of irritation. She'd finished most of her paperwork, had deemed it a day well spent, and had been sipping on her sake, Shizune frowning behind her, a fat Ton Ton in her arms just behind her.

She'd just managed to get a pleasant buzz, when the guard had arrived with this oxen like man, one arm wrapped in a bandage, raving like a lunatic, shouting something about Kyuubi, and almost wetting his pants in his anxiety.

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" She almost snapped. Damn delusional farmer. Had just a whiff or two too much from his moonshine bottle obviously. Kyuubi was securely locked into Naruto, wherever her missing brat was now. She felt a longing pang in her heart. Naruto, where are you?

One blonde brow arched, as she listened to some wild tale of a succession of naked little boys pillaging the farmer's clothesline. She wondered what the hell this had anything to do with the Ninetails. She began to wonder about the man's sanity, when he launched into a bizarre accounting of little boys not being little boys, but some sort of shape shifting hellspawn of demon kind. She snuck a look at Shizune, who appeared utterly rapt in the farmer's words, but gave her superior a jaunty wink at the ludicrousness of such a tale.

"And then, I heard a voice shout Naruto and it turned into a howl, and the damn little fox yelped out the name Sasuke just before it changed, and then there was a loud screaming and the damn nine tailed demon leapt over the fence and then…"

Tsunade stood up so fast, her face so intent, the farmer fell back with dismay, his words dying in his mouth.

"Say that again!?" She roared.

The farmer quaked, his knees knocking almost as loudly as they had when he'd seen the massive red fox leap over his fence.

"K…kyuubi… j…jumped…"

She waved that away irritably. "No, you said the name Naruto. Where did you hear that?" She demanded fiercely.

"Naruto? That aint a name," The farmer almost stammered, confused. "It's a fish cake, aint it?"

Tsunade couldn't suppress the rolling of her eyes. Back wood hick farmer! How could anyone not know the name of Naruto? It had only been spread far and wide over the known lands for the last seven years. "It's a name, trust me. So, the little wolf howled out the name of Naruto, and the fox did the same with the name of Sasuke?" Her voice was demanding, even as it quavered slightly.

The farmer scratched his head thoughtfully, recovering himself. "Well, yeah, 'cept, actually, now that you mention it, the fox said Sasuke first, then the cub said Naruto."

Tsunade fell shaken back into her seat. Could it be? But no… the farmer said they were little boys, ten at most. Her Naruto was twenty two, and even as short and slender as he had been, he surely wouldn't pass for a ten year old boy. She squeezed her eyes shut, heart aching.

"But who cares about all that?" The farmer was back to ranting, waving his arms. "The Ninetails is back, I tell you. That's the important thing! Call out the ANBU, call out all your ninjas! Call for reinforcements. We're all gonna die otherwise!"

Shizune saw her mistress was too stricken to react to this, so she broke in soothingly. "Naturally, naturally. But back to your story. We have to have all the facts before…"

Tsunade only heard snippits of the conversation that followed, so lost was she in her bleak and sorrowful thoughts.

_Naruto! Where are you!_

"So, what your saying is the boy turned into a fox in your hands, and the other boy into a wolf? Sounds like this 'Sasuke' was only trying to protect his friend, don't you think?" Shizune's voice was a muted comforting sound in her ears.

"Well, I dunno… yeah, when you put it that way, I guess so…" The farmer's rough voice faded away once more.

_Sasuke, when I get my hands on you, I'm going to pound you into a bloody pulp._

"So, this 'Kyuubi', he stopped when the kit and cub reached his side? He didn't jump on you, tear you apart? He took up the babies and ran away with them? Now that doesn't sound very demonic, does it?"

"But… but… I _saw _it, I swear! It had nine tails and everything! And it was as big as my little girl's pony! No! It was bigger, like a horse!"

_I'm going to rip out your black Uchihan heart and feed it to you before I gut you and leave your stinking entrails to be devoured by the vultures!_

"A horse? Are you sure? Why, I am certain that Kyuubi was taller than the Hokage's tower. What did you have for lunch? Are you sure you didn't eat something bad that made you sick? You know, I've heard of such things…."

"Enough!" Tsunade said roughly. "This is preposterous. You couldn't have seen children turn into wild animals. I won't even begin to wonder what you've been drinking to have seen such a thing. As for the Ninetails, you couldn't have seen it. It's impossible. Even if… if… he's dead, he would take the damned demon to hell with him." Tsunade blinked away furious tears. Stupid farmers and their home made rot gut. She'd heard about worse. When would they ever learn? And to bring this outlandish tale to her, now, when Naruto…

Shizune gave the Tsunade a worried look. The big blonde was about to cry. "There, now, you see? The Hokage would know such things, naturally. Come… let me take you to the clinic, and have you looked at. Food poisoning, or worse, alcohol poisoning can be very dangerous…" She quickly led the protesting man away.

Once she was alone, Tsunade grabbed the sake bottle and downed the rest of its contents recklessly. She struggled to shake off her heartache. Stupid man! Where was another bottle? Just as she got up to rummage for one, Shizune returned breathlessly.

Seeing that murderous intent look in her eye, she opened her mouth soothingly. "Tsunade-sama, don't let it get to you. The man was obviously suffering from…"

There was a loud caw as a messenger hawk alighted on the windowsill, a little scroll tied to its taloned leg with the red tape betokening urgent news.

"Dammit, what now!" the Hokage snarled, then grew cold when the hawk shifted nervously. The Hyuuga symbol was clear to see on the leather band around its other leg.

"It's Neji-san's bird," Shizune said in a hushed voice. She moved quickly forward to relieve the bird of its scroll. It immediately cawed again, and then took off, obviously not instructed to wait for a reply. A report from Sound, at last!

Shizune quickly unrolled it and began to scan its contents. A moment later she gave a choked cry, and her hands began to shake.

"What? What? Dammit, what?" Tsunade snapped anxiously, leaping up and snatching the scroll away, before reading it herself. The first thing she noticed, was that it wasn't even in code. What…

_Hokage-sama;_

_It is with deep regret that I must inform you that Uzumaki Naruto is dead, as is Uchiha Sasuke, Otokage of Sound. They both passed three days after we departed from Konoha. A temporary kage has been appointed in the interim, and the treaty was signed, and all contracts ratified. We are returning home immediately, and should be there within a day or two of your receipt of this missive. A full report will be given at this time._

_Again, my condolences; for you, and for us all._

_Hyuuga Neji, Mission Captain._

Tsunade couldn't see; couldn't see that her hands were shaking so badly the parchment rattled, couldn't see that Shizune had shaken off her own grief to stare at her in frightened concern. Couldn't see that she herself had gone chalk white, lips bloodless, eyes devoid of any and all vitality.

"No…" it was a choked whisper.

"Hokage-sama…"

"No." A little louder, her voice shaken and almost wild.

"Tsuande…"

"NO!" A full bodied scream.

She hurled the evil missive away, and smashed her fists down upon the massive desk, which first cracked right down the middle, shivered, and then crumbled to matchsticks.

Shizune ran from the wild, unstoppable tornado that her beloved Mistress had become, and hovered anxiously in the hall with the two ANBU guards assigned to the day duty.

"Fetch Iruka-sensei," She told one of them shakily. "And send for Jiraiya… now."

It was some time before the sounds of mayhem and enraged screams and pointless threats died down to stillness and muffled sobs. And just as a white faced Iruka arrived, having heard the din long before, the dark haired woman crept inside the demolished room and found Tsunade sitting huddled in a corner, face a mask of tears, and trembling like a child.

" 'Nade…" Shizune said softly and took her most precious person into her arms and comforted her as best as she could. "I'm here…"

_  
_And Tsunade turned into the warmth of her long time companion with a soft, crushed whimper.


	6. Chapter 6

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 6

Kyuubi didn't even so much as pause until the farm lay far behind them, and they were once more in the safety of their lair. Then he dropped to the sandy hollow of their nest, and reached up with an agile paw and pulled Naruto off his back. Naruto was still hunkered down, red fur tight between golden paws and shiny teeth, and Kyuubi winced as a mouthful of his hair came free.

He inspected Naruto, from the tip of his quivering black nose, to the tip of his still slightly fright frizzed red tipped tail. As soon as he was assured his beloved kit was unharmed, he did the same to the shaken black fox cub, who at least had the sense to let go once his Chichiue pulled him off.

There was a hard, tight little knot on one side of the cub's skull, and Kyuubi spent several minutes gently licking it, while Naruto snuggled himself tightly against his littermate's side and whimpered softly in concern. Both of them lay quietly in the safe shelter of Chichiue's paws until the last of the fight or flight emotions drained from their tiny bodies.

Fur began to ripple once more, and soft gasps and whimpers were heard as two small animals turned into considerably larger but still little boys.

"What happened?" Kyuubi growled softly, a little sternly. He would never forget the zing in his head when he felt the change in his two children. He'd been far away when that had happened, but immediately sped to where he felt them. Then his heart begun to pound wildly when he found them cowering among the sun drenched clothes, being menaced by the farmer and a shotgun. Now, he felt the oddest desire to cry with strain in the aftermath.

Snort. Great foxes that had once been demon lords didn't cry from the reaction of nervous fright and righteous rage. It just didn't happen.

Sasuke was laying on one of Kyuubi's red paws, his hand laying upon it while the other one was holding the side of his aching head where he'd struck the barrel.

"I failed." His voice was monotone. "Naruto was in danger, and I failed to protect him. I… I'm sorry, Chichiue…" Dark eyes glistened with the enormity of what could have been.

"No!" Naruto cried roughly, nuzzling Sasuke's shoulder tenderly. "It was my fault… You've always told me to be careful, to think before I act, and I didn't. I ran away from you, and didn't listen when you called me back. I'm so sorry, Sasuke." Naruto was sniffling softly as he too was finally realizing where his impulsiveness had almost lead them all.

"Hush," Kyuubi said softly, his nose wrinkling comfortingly. He licked Sasuke's cheek gently with a rough tongue. "No one is at fault but me. I should have known better than to settle down so close to any human. You should not have had to protect Naruto yet, Cub. And you, Kit, should be free to live life to the fullest extent you can. And I should have killed the man. Now we have been discovered."

He looked regretfully around the snug little home. It had been such a pleasant week, watching his younglings grow, become closer, and more intimate. It had given him such a warm rush to see the two behaving as they should have all along; filled with love and innocent passion for each other.

Well. The last would not change, he would see to that. There would be other dens. And his kit and his cub would be free to live and laugh and love with all the zest and passion and pleasure they could find. He would just have to make a few changes, and then he would be able to provide all that his family needed, and not depend on stealing from farmers for what he couldn't supply before.

He then pressed his nose to Sasuke's Naruto-free shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Cub." He whispered softly, and knew he'd been right to bring the dark soul back. No one would give so much to protect their kit than this creature right here.

Sasuke grabbed onto his chichiue's muzzle and clung there feeling swamped with muted joy to hear such come from the great fox, even if, deep down inside, he knew he didn't deserve it. He had failed. Still it did his heart good to know that at least his father was proud of his attempt, unhelpful as it had been.

"Thank you for saving us," he whispered back, stroking his slightly dampened cheek against the soft fur. The two stared into each other's eyes and reaffirmed their bond of protection and love towards Naruto… and towards each other.

Naruto, far from feeling left out of the gentle but intense moment, was giddy with delight to see the affection between his most precious persons. He held one of Sasuke's hands tightly in his, the other stroking Kyuubi's paw. His family. And now that the fright from the farm had passed, he couldn't be happier.

It was late afternoon, and Naruto's giddy contentment had changed to wistfulness. They were moving. The warm and snug nest he loved so much was left behind forever. It lay several hours behind them now, never to be returned to. Naruto loved that place with all his heart. It was the only home he'd ever known, and was filled with so many beautiful memories.

But with the farmer knowing about them, it was now too dangerously close to human habitation. They would find another den. One even more snug and beautiful, as both Sasuke and Chichiue had told him. One where he wouldn't have to worry about being seen, or having to be careful about discovery. One where he could laugh and play and love without let.

Still, Naruto was depressed. Never again would Sasuke kiss and touch him by the pond. Never again would he lay in the perfectly shaped sandy hollow at home, nestled between Kyuubi's silken tails while he and Sasuke pleasured each other.

Surely, there would be other ponds, and other sandy hollows, but never would it be as perfect as those… where Naruto first drew breath, first laughed, and first made love.

Sasuke gently jostled his shoulder. "Smile for me, beautiful," he told his too quiet mate.

Naruto gave him rueful smile obediently, running a hand through his tousled hair. "Good enough, gorgeous?"

Sasuke snorted. Gorgeous indeed. However, it warmed him to hear the playful rejoinder. Naruto had been too sad and silent on this journey. Most un-narutoish. And he didn't like it at all. Naruto should be laughing and running and jumping, like he always did. And by all that was holy, he would see to it that he did once more.

"For now," he said meaningfully. "But later… I _will _see the most beautiful smile you are capable of, Dobe. Count on it."

Naruto blushed and felt his knees weaken.

Kyuubi stopped, and sniffed the air. "I smell water. Lots of it. It's quiet and still. I'm going to look around. You two make yourselves useful and play. I'll be back in about an hour. With dinner." And Kyuubi wrinkled his nose at them in a smile, and bounded off into the forest.

Sasuke nodded somberly, fingering the cold steel of the oddly shaped knife in his pocket. Chichiue had given them both one. Long, and dark, very sharp, very pointed, with a ring at the handle. A kunai, their father had told them. Where he'd gotten them, and the clothes they now wore, neither knew. But it was a pretty safe bet it wasn't from the farmer.

When it had hit his palm, his hand had curled instinctively about it. Without a thought, he'd suddenly began flipping it around and around, and back and forth between his hands as if born to wield one.

Naruto had stared at him, amazement and admiration in his eyes. That had pleased Sasuke to no end. But what would please him more would be to see exactly how much Naruto remembered of their use.

"You try," he'd said.

Naruto had turned it thoughtfully in his hands, and then had suddenly burst into as graceful and agile use of the weapon as Sasuke had.

"Dunno where that came from, but it's wicked cool!" He'd laughed.

Thus, both Kyuubi and Sasuke had felt a little better when Kyuubi left just now to find the source of water he'd smelled. After the morning fright at the farm, it was good to know they weren't completely helpless.

Naturally, the two boys had starting doing what they wanted when they were alone.

Tussling. Oh, now such activity brought much kissing and groping and nipping, but it was as much an activity of competition as it was of love.

And suddenly, Naruto found himself pinning Sasuke, for the very first time, to the ground in victory. He smiled down in delighted triumph.

"Take that, Teme!" He crowed.

Sasuke was completely and totally stunned. How… how could this have happened? He was always stronger, faster, and more cunning than his beautiful and sneaky blonde. It was the way of the world, dammit. How had Naruto managed to get the drop on him? How?

And to heap insult on top of injury, said beautiful blonde _tweaked his nose_!

"Oh, that's it… "

Laughing, Naruto leapt up and away, his doleful morning and afternoon forgotten in their innocent play.

Quick as a wink, Sasuke was up and after him, and they raced from shrub to tree, leaping up into them as if they were monkey's and darting from branch to branch in the most incomprehensible ways. If they'd been less involved in their playful competition, they'd have paused to wonder how such feats were possible.

But they were too filled with joy and love and giddy delight to even give it so much as a passing thought. They darted and dipped, caught each other, kissed and squirmed and were off again. Over and over and over until they could barely suppresses excited giggles and squeals and bursts of panting laughter. Until they were delirious with play and Naruto felt the wind of Sasuke's grasping hand, leapt forward with a sudden jolt of speed, and then…

He stumbled shrieking with laughter into a clearing, and instantly noticed they were no longer alone.

There, clustered in a group as if they were lost, stood several people. They were travel stained, and looked weary unto death, in both body and soul.

Their demeanor, even more so than their shocking appearance, brought Naruto to a complete stop, as he stared at them in shock. They regarded each other silently, and Naruto barely heard the sound of Sasuke's suddenly more urgently flying feet.

They looked so… so… familiar. Something haunted him about their faces, the shocked way they stared at him, faces filled with disbelief.

Until one of them, a girl with dull pink hair matted to her head, empty eyes that suddenly filled with blazing life, stumbled forward and cried out his name, as amazing as that was.

"Naruto!"


	7. Chapter 7

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 7

Sasuke barreled out of the woods, filled with an inexplicable dread suddenly, and found his companion in play had stopped. The two of them went down in a tangle of youthful limbs.

"Teme!" The impossible blonde screamed, voice threaded with both laughter and indignation. "Watch where you're going!"

"Hn, Dobe," his equally youthful companion grunted. "Why did you stop in the middle of the road like a moron?" He had been aware instantly of the group watching them with wide and shocked eyes, and knew that once more Naruto was being impulsive. After the farmer, he should have hightailed it right back the way they had come. But, of course, being Naruto, he'd stopped dead in his tracks.

God, he loved him.

The two boys slithered and struggled, finally untangled themselves and picked themselves up.

"Look!" The blonde exclaimed and pointed to the stunned and frozen group. "People!"

The other was dusting himself off meticulously, picking bits of bracken from his off white shorts, and dark red shirt, his dark hair mussed, but unmistakable. He looked up with coal black eyes, and eyed them suspiciously. He didn't know why, but the mere sight of them, instead of filling him with unease as had the farmer, and the few times he'd spied them, the farmers family, made him aware of full blown panic.

Something terrible was on the horizon, about to happen.

"Hi!" The blonde chirped, taking a step forward to greet them. "I'm Naruto! Very pleased to meet you!"

The raven reached out, snatched the blonde and pulled him protectively to his side. "Don't be stupid, dobe," he growled, never taking his eyes off the strangers. "You don't even know who they are. They might hurt you!" He clutched the blonde close, possessively. He would kill them all, from the wide eyed pink haired girl whose face haunted him so, down to the boy only slightly older than them both, brown eyes filled with shock and incomprehension.

The blonde rolled his eyes. "Don't be so paranoid, Sasuke-teme. They're just people. They might be friends just waiting to be discovered! Besides… I… I…"

He stopped confused, and allowed the darker, slightly taller boy to tuck him ever closer to his side. He peered around his protective companion, eyes wide and owlish. "Do… Do I know you?"

"Naruto!" Sakura called frantically again, and then burst into tears. She stumbled forward, that terrible vacancy finally gone from her eyes. "Naruto…"

"Yatta!" The blonde crowed and shook off his teme. "See! I told you they were friendly! Come on, Sasuke, let's say hello!"

Naruto skipped forward, smiling brightly, so brightly, so innocently, so untouched by the fury and darkness of reality. His hands were stretched out in greeting. "Hi!"

Hinata hiccuped, and clutched her husband, who was equally clingy, eyes impossibly wide as the golden apparition drew closer. Kiba's nostrils quivered in disbelief as he held a struggling Akamaru to heel. Konohamaru blinked, rubbed his eyes, blinked again. Neji and Shikamaru stared, eyes wide.

Sakura sobbed and fell to her knees, eyes streaming.

Naruto walked right up to her and frowned. "Don't cry. There's nothing so terrible that you have to cry."

Sakura reached up with trembling hands, and Naruto laughed and went into her arms with all the innocence of youth. There was something about her. When the farmer had touched him, he'd felt only fear and rage. But this girl… He patted her back as she sobbed into his bright hair.

"You're so pretty and pink," the blonde crooned, stroking that matted and once shiny hair. "Like a flower petal. Like a cherry blossom… Sakura-chan…"

There was a terrible moment of tense expectation.

"Kai!" Kakashi shouted, bringing his hands together.

Sasuke leapt forward, tore Naruto free, and shoved him behind his own body. "What the hell do you think you're doing, old man?" He snapped.

Everyone blinked. They boys were still there. Still impossibly familiar.

Impossible.

Sakura staggered to her feet, drug a hand across her tear stained face, and then smiled. "Naruto, how did you get here?" Only with the purity of a lost heart, had she utterly accepted what she saw before her. It was so much what she wanted to see, needed to see.

Naruto tried to get past Sasuke, but the older boy refused to let his most precious person be in harm's way. Not until the smaller boy bit him in the arm, causing the raven to shriek in outrage and fall back, was he able to skip forward and take Sakura's trembling hands.

"What do you mean? We've always been here. Always." He smiled up at the woman, eyes wide with curiosity.

"You look like you've come a long ways. Are you tired? Did you go to fabulous places? What did you see? Did you see ninja? Did you see pirates? Did you see kings and mountains and glaciers?"

He gave Sakura's hand a playful tug, and then let go, skipping around her to confront Kakashi, leaving the girl to rotate helplessly to keep him in her line of sight, filled to the brim with bursting hope and joy.

"Wow mister, did something happen to your face? Are you hurt?" The boy was a seemingly endless fount of curiosity and questions. "That was a cool trick your did with your hands. Will you teach me?"

Sticking his tongue out in concentration, he made the same hand gesture as the older man and threw back his head. "Kai!" Then giggled when nothing happened. He reached up and tugged on the man's mask. "Hey mister, you sure are old!"

Kakashi remained half bent over like that, eyes watering helplessly at what he saw, and felt and smelt. _Naruto!_

Preposterous.

"Naruto!" Sasuke squawked. "Come back here dobe!" He sidled suspiciously around Sakura, who stared at him in disbelief. Then he caught the blonde's arm, and tugged him away. "Come one, dobe. I'm hungry. I know I saw a village in the distance. Let's go get something to eat."

In truth, the darker boy wasn't at all interested in food. But these strange people were staring at _his _dobe like they wanted to gobble him up. Nothing would happen to his precious person. Nothing! He would see to that.

And… Somehow, he knew, they represented the greatest danger to the life they lived now than anything else ever could. They bothered him. They all stared at him like he was some dreaded apparition spawned in the fires of hell to suck the very souls from their bodies, while they stared at _his _Naruto as if he were some archangel here to proclaim a glorious golden age.

He paused, his own line of thought sending a frisson down his spine.

"You? Hungry? But Chichiue just fed us less than an hour ago. And you call me a greedy pig!" Blue eyes rolled wildly in affectionate disdain. "'Sides, you know we're not supposed to go wandering around villages. There might be strange people there."

To the travelers' surprise, Sasuke tenderly nuzzled the blonde. "I dunno," he muttered, "these people here seem pretty strange and that didn't stop you. Have you forgotten the farmer already?"

"No," Naruto blushed furiously at the reminder of the morning's debacle. "But these people are different. Can't you feel? I can."

Miraculous.

Eyes as blue as bright as free as a summer sky suddenly looked at what was obviously a couple. The girl clung to the man, white eyes filled with tears, as he hugged her so tightly, the blonde was surprised she didn't break clean in two. Both of them were staring at him almost… hungrily.

Weird.

But nice. He just knew they were both very nice people.

Suddenly, Hinata stepped away from Gaara, her hands moving.

"Byakuugan!"

"Whoa!" Naruto chirped, as a multitude of fleshy veins suddenly swarmed around her eyes, pulsing softly. It was really rather gross looking, but naturally the blonde was powerfully intrigued.

He skipped up to her, his every present faithful shadow right at his heels.

Hinata was staring at the circuitry within the blonde's body. The chakra channels were as individual as a fingerprint; no two were exactly alike.

"Naruto…" She breathed, stunned. It was undeniably his channels she was looking at. She had, after all, looked at them like this more than a million times in their shared youth before.

Though the color coursing through them was different, the circuits themselves just screamed 'Naruto Uzumaki' at her.

It was impossible.

It was preposterous.

It was a miracle.

It was Naruto.


	8. Chapter 8

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 8

The others were tensed as Hinata looked at the blonde little boy with her all seeing gaze. She would easily see that this couldn't possibly be whom he was trying to make them believe he was. She would see. After all, Hinata Hyuuga had been in love with Naruto since the very first day she laid eyes on him. As much a stalker in her own quiet demure way as Sasuke's old fangirls had been, no one had seen as much of Naruto Uzumaki inside and out than she had.

Surely, Neji himself was looking at Naruto the same way, but he was in no way as familiar to the man that loved and owed Naruto so much as the girl that knew him like the back of her hand.

Better than the back of her hand, in fact, as she had looked at him as many times a day as she could when he was still in the village, and had hardly regarded said hand at all. What could her very own hand have to offer when there was such a handsome, vivid, blue eyed blonde to look at?

At any rate, though their hearts pounded with such hope, such desperate desire for this to be real, they knew that it could not be. They'd seen Naruto's body after the column had done its dreadful work. He'd been shattered from neck to toes. And after Kyuubi got done escaping, he'd no longer even resembled something human. And though they wished for it with all the wild hope in their hearts, it was a cruel and dastardly thing to do, create a loathsome doppleganger of someone they loved and missed and grieved for so intensely.

The Kazekage's wife would expose this terrible fraud. And then they would kill him. He would be executed for the heinous crime of pretending to be Naruto Uzumaki.

But she burst into tears, breathing that wondrous name. And to make matters even stranger, she did something totally unexpected.

Sabaku-Hyuuga Hinata dropped to one knee formally, clenched fist held to her breast, head bowed in loyal submission.

And though Sakura was no Hyuuga, indeed, being the very first ninja from a common if rather wealthy family, she too followed Hinata's example.

Even as Sakura dropped, so too did Neji.

Shikamaru, blinked, coughed roughly and thickly, and offered his clan's symbolic loyalty. Hands together as if in prayer, his head dipped low.

Kiba dropped to both knees, hands extended, palms up, and lowered his head.

Kakashi, sharingan eye revealed, tomoes wheeling wildly, stood at attention, one foot slightly behind the other, as if standing before his Hokage.

Gaara, beside the lowered Hinata, did not fall to his knee, but did lower his head, as he would to a fellow Kage, and slightly behind him Kankuro offered the Sunan tribute to a neighboring sovereign.

It was like a wave of wind in wheat, a line in lowering of heads in loyal, if not royal recognition.

Naruto stood there, blinking in confusion. Even if he had been in possession of all his memories, he still would have wondered what on earth would possess them to offer him such a lofty tribute.

And though he didn't have any of those memories, he did recognize solemnity when he saw it, and then looked behind himself to see what could have provoked such a response from all these grown ups.

And saw that Sasuke too had dropped to one knee, very similar to the Hyuuga tribute, naturally since they had once been but one clan. The only difference was he was on the other knee, and his hand was not clenched in a fist, but only the two middle fingers clasped, leaving his thumb, pointer, and pinky extended. His dark head was lowered, but tilted slightly aside, looking up at his mate with a quirky grin, dark eyes gleaming with pride and possessiveness through his inky bangs.

There was a thunderous silence.

"What… what are you doing?" Naruto asked weakly, unable to understand what this portended. "Oh, for heaven's sake, get up Sasuke!"

That seemed to shake some sort of reality back into the stunned group. They straightened up slowly, and they were no longer looking at Naruto.

They were looking at Sasuke, and they did not look happy.

Konohamaru was the one to give voice to their darkening thoughts.

"If he's Naruto, then that means…"

And suddenly, they were all moving very quickly indeed.

With a yelp, Naruto found himself in a pair of deceptively slender arms, strong as steel.

Sakura caught him up, ripping away the hand that was held up to have Naruto lift him back to his feet. And bore him away from the only one he loved.

Sasuke sprang to his feet with a furious oath, dark eyes staining crimson, four tomoes whirling like a maelstrom deep within.

And found he couldn't move.

Shikamaru, hands held stiffly before him, dark shadow long and thick between them, held him at bay, and made the mistake of looking into Sasuke's eyes. He froze, caught up in a red and black nightmarish landscape.

"Don't look into his eyes," Kakashi cried, shocked and horrified to see those hellish eyes. Out came a scroll, and he bit his thumb.

Hinata was rushing forward, hands moving like the wind, even as sand leapt up from the ground, rising and undulating, shifting like some monstrous wave.

"Stop!" Naruto shouted, writhing in those unyielding arms. Satiny ears popped up on his head, deeply tanned flesh rippling into golden fur. "What are you doing? Let him go! Let him gooooooooooooo…." He degenerated into a furious howl.

"Holy shit!" Sakura shrieked, suddenly finding a fox kit wriggling madly in her arms, two tails lashing her face painfully. Shocked, she let go.

Naruto landed lightly and scampered over to where Sasuke was still held, and still holding Shikamaru, both frozen in place, yapping frantically. He hurled himself into his littermate's nerveless arms.

"STOP!" Sakura screamed, as once more, Naruto threw himself in harm's way to protect that black hearted Uchihan traitor. "Don't hurt Naruto!"

The sand slammed harmlessly but agitatedly to the ground, and shifted restlessly. Hinata stopped her deadly attack by plowing face first into the ground, but the sand rose up again, caught her mid fall, and cradled her gently before she could injure herself.

Akamaru, and another monstrous dog, aka Kiba, prowled uneasily, growling helplessly, circled by an outer ring of Kakashi's summoned nindogs.

The shock of the kit's small body impacting with his own made Sasuke close his eyes, breaking the connection. Shikamaru collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Sasuke held tightly to his mate, trembling, black ears now twitching on his head, eyes once more dark and cold. He looked around, and found every avenue of escape blocked off.

Naruto twisted in Sasuke's arms, barking furiously, both tails fluffed up to three times their size.

And Sasuke was shrinking, darkening, rippling with ebony fur, whiskers bristling fiercely, and he added his own sharp voice to his mate's.

And the circle of ninja stared, eyes wide with shock, and beheld that which staggered the mind. Wolf cub and fox kit snapped and barked defiantly at them.

Neji's mouth tightened. "The Kyuubi's work, no doubt."

None of them would ever forget that terrible summer night, only a week ago, when Kyuubi got free and destroyed Sasuke, and then vanished with both his and Naruto's body in a streak of fire. A small blazing comet that had shot southwards… to this general direction.

"It all makes sense now," Kakashi said softly, his voice almost lost in the yelps and barks of two very angry canines. "The Demon fox has saved Naruto before. He is a demon lord, after all. Perhaps it is possible after all…" And he tapered off, brow furrowed in thought, eye covered once more. The nindogs had vanished as quickly as they had appeared.

So too Kiba took his human form. It wouldn't do to further antagonize Naruto.

Naruto, who stood on four paws, all of them digging into the dirt, as he and Sasuke circled back to back, watching warily. They were no longer snarling, just turning slowly, watching and looking and searching for a way out.

"They're gonna bolt," Kiba observed dryly, very familiar with the antics of wild canines. He was, after all, just a whisker away from being the same, as was his whole clan.

"No!" Cried Sakura, desperately. She'd just found him again! She couldn't lose him now. "Naruto… forgive us!" She fell to her knees, and leaned forward, trying to look into those crimson eyes, and failing. "We're sorry, please, please don't leave."

Akamaru whined softly, sitting back on his haunches, whined and yipped softly.

The two wild animals halted, heads cocked, ears perked, but no less wary.

"Attaboy," Kiba whispered. "Tell him we're sorry. Tell him we thought Sasuke would hurt him. Tell him we know we were mistaken, and that we are sorry."

And Akamaru burst into a long and incomprehensible string of yelps, barks, and wuffles.

The wolf simply growled and looked away. The fox began another round of furious barking.

The humans could barely repress smiles. The kit was obviously giving the dog, and the rest of them, a piece of his mind. It was so very… Naruto!

Naruto gave one last angry yip, huffed, fur ruffling, and tails coiling around his paws, only now deflating. He sniffed in disdain, and turned his nose into the air.

Akamaru gave a soft whine and bellied up slowly closer, eyes big and begging.

The fox peeked out of the corner of his eye, which sparkled, and then huffed again.

Whiiiiiinnnnnne….

And it was too much for the gregarious kit. Without a second thought, he bounced up and came down on the white dog, tugging playfully on an ear almost as big as his whole body, tails wagging madly.

The wolf cub gave a long suffering sigh, rolled his dark eyes, but still had fur pricked up on the back of his neck. And he watched his mate carefully. Very carefully. If that damned white dog thought he would harm his Naruto, he had another think coming. Painfully.

And already the change was upon him, dark fur receeding, ears dropping, whiskers vanishing, and once more Sasuke stood in their midst.

And then there was Naruto, blonde and blue eyed once more, rolling around in the dirt with Akamaru.

"Naruto."

Naruto looked up, still with a mouthful of ear, and then spat it out, along with sundry hairs, and got up with a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head in the old familiar way. He took the pale hand held out to him, and allowed Sasuke to draw him into the safety of his arms.

"Dobe," Sasuke said with exasperation. "Will you never learn? They just attacked us!"

Naruto looked up from the crook of his lover's neck. Oh yeah…

"Why?" He asked instead, staring at them all. "You seemed so nice at first. What have we ever done to you?"

"Naruto-niisan," Konohamaru finally broke in, unable to remain silent. "It's us, don't you remember?" He was so frustrated. This was Naruto, impossibilities aside, sudden ability to turn into a fox aside as well. "Don't you remember us at all?"

Naruto's brow furrowed. "You know me?"

"Yeah!" Konohamaru waxed enthusiastically. At least they weren't running away. "Don't you remember the last time we talked? I told you that you were the Light of Konoha. The eternal flame. And that we would save you from Sasuke!"

"Save me from Sasuke?" Naruto's blue eyes widened in disbelief. "Why would I need to be saved from my littermate?"

"Littermate…" Neji murmured, deep in thought. So much was coming clear at last.

"Because he enslaved you!" Konohamaru was beside himself. "Sasuke enslaved you, and then killed you!"

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke suddenly screamed, dark eyes filled with panic. Naruto must not remember!

"What's the matter, bastard," Kiba said venomously. "Afraid your lover boy will find out the truth?"

Naruto turned bewildered eyes on his companion. "S…Sasuke?"


	9. Chapter 9

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 9

There was a tense moment, as everyone suddenly realized what Naruto remembering could mean. They stared in horrified anticipation at what Konohamaru's well meaning, but ill thought prodding might bring.

Naruto had twisted in Sasuke's arms, his face blank, his soft call almost stuttered, and their hearts sank.

And then Naruto burst into the sweetest, merriest laughter that one could imagine, his arms slinking up to link around the other boy's neck.

"Did'ja hear that, Teme? They think you enslaved me, killed me." And there was another dissolving round of mirth. "Well, maybe… with pleasure…"

"Yeah," Sasuke responded, his voice shaken. He tilted his head slightly, and those warm and silken lips were under his, all the warm passionate flavor and zing of Naruto in his mouth.

And despite the heady rush such activities always brought him, for one murderous moment, Sasuke wanted to kill the brown haired boy that could have cost them all so dearly. But a moment later, when his mate's moist tongue stroked his lips, he couldn't hold on to his dark temper.

Dammit all, Naruto tasted so good!

There was something so sweet and endearing, yet shockingly erotic about watching the two young boys kiss in such an adult fashion. That the pair were still very sexually involved was clear to see. And it was more than apparent that Naruto wanted it this time around. Wanted it, and thought nothing of instigating deeper intimacy.

But with the horrors of Sound so recent and fresh in their minds, it was a little horrifying as well. And when the boys shifted, pressing closer and more heatedly together, the others yearned to do something, anything, from seeing this happen before their very eyes.

The idea of the Uchiha putting his hands and his body on Naruto made them ill with unease, desperate with anger. After all he had done, how dare he enjoy the fruits of Naruto's innocent passion? After all he had done, why couldn't they punish him as they'd so burned to do a week ago?

Why was he alive?

But once more, they could do nothing. They had to stand aside and watch this travesty unfold before their very eyes. Their little concerted attack a few moments ago had met with furious and enraged resistance from the blonde. To try and separate them now would surely lead to the loss of their Naruto once more. And they knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that if he slipped away now, it would be nigh impossible to find him again.

They couldn't lose him again, they just couldn't!

And each of them, in their own ways, thought furiously about how they could separate Naruto from his Sasuke, and take him home, where he belonged. Where they could keep him safe from Uchihan treachery and cruelty, no matter how tender the brunette seemed to be now.

He could not be trusted.

A very low, very soft, very resonate growl shook not only the watchers from their frantic thoughts, but finally, thank heavens, parted the young lovers from what was very quickly becoming outright lovemaking.

A simply enormous red fox slunk from the surrounding foliage, without a whisper of noise to mark his passage, padding slowly towards them, nine lush tails flickering aggressively over his back.

Kakashi's heart sank. He'd seen this before. He was the only one alive here now, who had. And despite the obvious reduction in size and demonic savagery, he had to force his knees to be still, to not knock together in dread.

And though the only time the others has seen the dreaded fox demon was the few times Naruto had released his chakra before, and that terrible night a week ago, they knew who he was as well, and tasted a deep and abiding fear and loathing for the creature. He was, after all, Konoha's greatest nemesis, and most enduring boogeyman. He was the Yondaime's bane.

He was the biggest threat and danger to humankind in existence, and he was here, now. And they were spent, weary unto death, demoralized, and confused.

They would all die.

_Kyuubi._

"Chichiue!" Naruto cried out happily, releasing his strangle hold on Sasuke's lower back.

Sasuke took his face from Naruto's neck, lips swollen, eyes half dreamy, and shook off the pleasurable haze that Naruto had cast over him.

"Chichiue?" Kakashi echoed incredulously.

Neji merely nodded to himself, yet another piece of the puzzle falling into place. And he relaxed slightly. Obviously, none of them were going to die today.

Not yet, anyway.

And Naruto was dragging Sasuke over to the great fox, through the ring of defenders, who now gave way easily to him. The blonde was rambling along nonstop in his inimitable and comforting way, as if the last seven years had never happened, and he was a young and hopeful genin again.

He let go of his littermate's hand to catch the foxes muzzle, nuzzling it with the affection and sinuousness of a cat, all the while talking ceaselessly about new friends, and how he was hungry, and that he loved his chichiue so much.

Kyuubi rumbled something that Naruto, obviously his kit now, easily comprehended.

The blonde laughed, kissed the fox's wet black nose, and then turned to the others.

"It was nice to meet you," he caroled. "And though you are a bit strange, I like you. But we have to go now. It's time to go home."

"Naruto, wait!" Sakura cried, taking a daring step forward before halting. "Don't you want to come home with us? To Konoha? Remember the Hokage? Don't you want to come back? Your dreams are still waiting for you."

Naruto, who'd been in the act of turning away, his hand once more captured by a very smug Sasuke, lifted his head.

"Konoha… Hokage…" He rolled the words around on his tongue, something tantalizingly familiar about them. Then he shook his head. New people and places were oh so fascinating, and he was as always lively and curious. But Chichiue was calling them to a new nest, where a scrumptious dinner was waiting. And it was getting late. The shadows were growing long. He wanted to go home, and curl up with his littermate for some very intense kisses and caresses. Adventures could wait for tomorrow.

"Maybe later. Bye now!" And with a jaunty wave, he vanished into the brush with his fox and his littermate.

A moment later, Chichiue picked them both up and tossed them once more onto his back, and then flew silently through the forest. And as young and inexperienced as Naruto was, he could clearly hear the sounds of the strangers trying to follow them. But soon, they were left behind, and the cool and serene surrounded them with the simple sounds of the forest preparing for night.

It a short while, Kyuubi had stopped and the boys tumbled lightly from his back. It was getting darker now. Though the sun would still not set for some time, in the gloom of the deep forest, night was already advancing.

Naruto looked around thoughtfully. It was a lovely little dell, with a pool fed by a tiny three foot high enchanting waterfall. The creek snaked away to the south before being swallowed in the surrounding trees. A small cave yawned invitingly from the rock face of a stony hill, between the massive and twisting roots of a great oak that towered over their heads. The scent of a succulent meal was wafting out of it. And standing beside it, motionless and alert, stood a small red fox.

As soon as they arrived, the fox trotted over to Kyuubi and was absorbed into him.

"Wow," Naruto cooed, eyes glistening with interest. "Can you teach us to do that, Chichiue?" And even as he spoke, he was tugging Sasuke into the cave, where dinner and bed waited for them.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and Kyuubi chuckled, easily following him inside.

And there, on a great stump inside, sat some bark plates, upon which reposed a steaming roast, several baked tubers and vegetables, and a virtual cornucopia of fruit.

Sasuke turned in wonderment to the fox. "How…"

Kyuubi nodded. "I found a way. I will show you later. But now, let us eat and prepare for night. There is much we need to discuss."

Dinner turned into a long and convivial affair, despite the severity of their talks. And Naruto did listen, he did take note, but he had so many much more interesting things on his mind; like the people they met today, this new, but disappointingly temporary home. And Chichiue's new and fascinating tricks did absorb him for some time. After all, if they could do it, why couldn't he, only in reverse? And the notion of a sentinel was smart of course. But still…

Naruto yawned gently. It had been a very long day, that began in fright, continued in flight, then another scare, and the exertion of new friends, and a new nest, and a very delicious dinner… He yawned again.

Sasuke and Kyuubi stopped talking and turned him with indulgent smiles. They had known all along that Naruto was only half listening to them, and that was fine. Protection of the pack was their job, not his. Naruto's job was simply to live and enjoy life to the fullest.

"Hey, Teme," Naruto began lazily, seeing that they had finally stopped talking. "Wanna go for a swim before bed?"

Sasuke laid down a very well gnawed rib bone, and gave his mate a crooked smile. "Sure, Dobe. You need a bath anyway. You smell like cow."

Too full and contented to flare up, he merely sniffed in disdain, rising slowly. "Yeah, and so do you. C'mon, let's go."

He licked the last of the peach juices from his fingers, never missing Sasuke's flickering gaze as he did, and smirked. Then rolled his eyes as they began to talk again! He only caught a few of the words they exchanged as he danced impatiently by the opening, occasionally teasing Kyuubi's sentinel fox, who was more than agreeable to play a moment with his sovereign.

"…tonight… I thought it could wait; you're both still so young, but now… Claim him now. Before someone else has the audacity…" Kyuubi was saying softly.

Naruto chuckled, nose to nose with the sentinel.

"…he's my mate. I love him… I will not let him go…" Sasuke responded in equally broken and low responses.

"Teme… come on! I'm aging rapidly here!" Naruto cried out, stroking the sentinel's satiny ears.

Sasuke laughed easily. "I am!"

"Be gentle," Kyuubi whispered as Sasuke turned away.

"I will." He took Naruto's hand, patted the sentinel in passing, and took his beautiful blonde… yes, his… out into the rustling and moon dappled forest.


	10. Chapter 10

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 10

Naruto was humming softly as he skipped ahead of his littermate. The moon was so very bright, and illuminated the little clearing in an almost effervescent glow. The rippling pond water twinkled like a sheet of diamond, the soft tinkling and rushing of the little waterfall was an enchanting counterpoint to the song of the soft wind through the leaves. And soon the shifting moss and bits of soft bracken below his bare feet changed to silken sand, still slightly warmed from the heat of the day.

Naruto gave a little chirp of delight, and wasted no time shedding clothes that were already just a little too tight all over. By tomorrow they would not longer fit at all. How odd, usually they did their growing at night, when asleep. But already he knew he was taller, stronger. He glanced at his abandoned clothing. He decided then and there that he would not put them back on. Tonight, he would sleep and feel his littermate's warm flesh against his own, all night.

Sasuke was hypnotized as he watched his mate strip before him. Naruto was so damned graceful most of the time, and now was definitely not the exception. He was powerfully excited. Tonight… now… he would make that beautiful blonde his. Forever and for all time. Tonight, he would be inside his dobe.

His clothes dropped to the forest floor as quickly as Naruto's.

Moonlight glanced off the sleek curve of Naruto's buttocks as he waded into the cool water with a melodious chuckle, glinted off the shining surfaces of his dobe's body. It was as if Naruto was limned in moonlight. Jesus God, he's so beautiful. And Sasuke was already so hard he hurt. He was already leaking, and so very ready to claim what was rightfully his, what had always been his, and what would always be his.

In but a moment, Sasuke was in the pond beside him, water warm and almost frothy against his thighs, bubbling and sparkling like some massive vat of champagne. And there was no time to play, no time to bathe. He couldn't breathe, Naruto smelled so damn good. All he could see was the sight of his blonde in a wash of delicate moonlight. All he could think about was touching Naruto, kissing him, loving him. God… so beautiful, so intoxicating…so… _his!_

And then there was skin like velvet under his fingers, his blonde turning slowly to face him, and he heard Naruto give a soft hitch of breath to see the stark desire and obsession in his littermate's not so dark eyes.

Naruto felt like he was strangling. He'd been intent on play in the water, but then fiercely gentle fingers had touched his shoulders and turned him around, and the look in Sasuke's red shot black eyes suddenly stole all the air from the world. It was amazing how so light a touch and nudge suddenly communicated an all consuming desire in a single heartbeat.

And they were kissing, like never before. There had been no light touch of lip upon lip, no gentle nudge of a wet tongue, no… it had been open and raw and burning hot from the moment they drew close enough together.

And now Naruto was drowning. Sasuke was pressed up against him, from toe to face, every inch of that warm quivering flesh demanding his response, and the blonde was helpless to do anything but submit. And god, such an aggressive submission!

Giving a sharp cry of demanding passion, he jumped up and latched his slim legs around Sasuke's waist, mouth hot and hungry and delving deep into the darker boy's very soul. Slender fingers tangled deep and hard, just shy of hurting, into dark thick hair.

Sasuke laughed huskily into the kiss, staggering backwards from the considerable weight in his arms now, and fell back on the water dampened sand, half in, half out of the pond.

And Kyuubi watched it all.

Naruto was straddling the other boy, knees digging into the wet sand, leaning over to continue what had to be the deepest, wettest and longest kiss in history. Their mouths never parted, dragging in quick gulps of air only when they shifted slightly, to intensify something that was already heart stopping from the beginning.

Naruto was rocking firmly, rubbing himself against the burning hard heat that pressed so insistently against his belly.

Sasuke growled softly, running damp hands down the still dry expanse of Naruto's back, the fingers skipping and catching on the contrast of dry and wet. He growled again, resenting the fact that the water wasn't nearly so slippery as it had initially seemed to be.

That hand slid over the velvety curve of a wet backside, and fingers delved into a very sensitive cleft. Naruto whimpered into Sasuke's greedy mouth, to feel those hard fingers tickling his tender entrance so enticingly.

"More!" the blonde squealed into the kiss, rocking harder, pressing faster. Of all the times he and his littermate had played, he'd never felt so damn urgent for something he couldn't understand. All he knew was that the feel of Sasuke's fingers against his anus lit a need, a fire, a craving thirst inside him that must be quenched. "Please!"

And Sasuke was more than eager to appease the now wild blonde on his body. Grinning savagely, he stroked and probed and tickled and teased, and Naruto responded beautifully. He arched and purred, rocked and growled, mewled and whimpered, and danced so deliciously upon his body.

But something was wrong…

The water, at first so user friendly, wasn't the best lubricant to be had, and it was already drying from his mate's shivering body. He would hurt Naruto if he went on. God, no... not again…

"Chichiue," he cried softly in desperation, breaking the endless kiss. He couldn't hurt his beautiful blonde in that way again! "Help us!"

And Kyuubi was there, warm and huge beside them, head lowered over their writhing bodies as he blew a long and smoky breath over both them and the pond.

The scent of sandalwood filled their nostrils, strong, powerful, and very erotic. And the water lapping at their legs and hips was suddenly slippery as oil. Sasuke's dry fingers were suddenly drenched in blissful slickness, and they slid deep inside the blonde, two at once.

Sasuke drew in a surprised gasp to feel how hot and tight and slick Naruto was inside. The silken lining clenched around his fingers, and as the glide continued, they slid over a swelling knot inside his blonde. And he grinned fiercely. Oh yeah, he knew what that was…

Naruto threw back his shaggy blonde head with a shocked cry of ecstasy, face bathed in moonlight, and looked straight into the face of his chichiue.

And Kyuubi's heart skipped a beat. Naruto's eyes were huge, wide open, the pupils so dilated that only the merest hint of blue encircled them, blue that was eaten away by glowing red. And Naruto's eyes began to burn as brightly as his body, as he drew in a choking, shuddering breath.

"Yes," Kyuubi breathed softly, his own heart pounding in time to the two lovers before him. "This is the way it's supposed to be, Kit. This is the way it will always be. He is your mate… forever."

And Naruto's blazing eyes closed slowly from the intense pleasure inside his body, those wickedly thorough fingers rubbing firmly but gently over that spot that sent white hot ecstasy racing through his body without let.

And below him, Sasuke was as reactive to the moment as his blonde. Dark eyes were red as blood, tomoes spinning wildly, growing, melting and merging together, forming a six pointed star in each eye.

Kyuubi lowered his head slightly to stare into the strangeness that had become Sasuke's eyes. "Now, Cub," he whispered softly. "Take him now, he is more than ready."

Sasuke was already moving, fingers slipping free, which earned a sharp cry of denial from his blonde, hands on slippery hips, shifting Naruto slightly up and back, and then…

Contact!

Naruto gave a whimpering gasp to feel something so hard, so hot, so damn urgent nudge him open for a second, and then Sasuke was inside, sliding deep and firm, plum taut head grinding against the swelling that was bigger inside him, more exquisitely sensitive. He couldn't help himself.

He threw back his head once more and screamed Sasuke's name.

Kyuubi's tails were around them, soft, silken, like an eiderdown net, drawing them even closer together, and closer to himself. It was like a bolt of electricity through his massive body, the passion and pleasure boiling inside his two beloved children. The Kitsune coiled his body around the writhing ones of his offspring.

"When he comes, Cub, mark him. Claim him. He is yours now; I give him to you. Take from me what you need to always guard and protect him. You are his Avenger, and this time you will be filled with his light, instead of darkness."

Sasuke was locked to his blonde's body, arching and thrusting, hands sliding up that silky smooth back to draw Naruto down closer to his body, bring his so beautiful face back where he could see it, kiss it, love it. God, Naruto was so hot, so tight, so very passionate and so in love with him. God…

"Naruto…" he gasped, shaken to his core by the intensity of their lovemaking. "I love you…"

Satisfied, Kyuubi coiled tighter pressing the three of them harder together as his head raised slightly.

"Feel it, Kit, all the pleasure and love this one has for you. Feel it, know it. He will always love you." He'd better, or Kyuubi would kill him again. "He is your lover, your protector, your guardian, and your mate."

"S…S…Sas… suke…" Naruto could barely speak from the pleasure coursing through every inch of his body. "My… my mate…"

Said mate was surging into him, over and over again, each retreat an agony of emptiness, each renewed thrust an obliterating ecstasy no one else could ever give him. God, Sasuke…

"Yes," Kyuubi went on, his own eyes burning as brightly as theirs, his voice oddly resonate and powerful. "You are my heir, my prince. And he is your Avenger. I give him to you now. Mark him when he marks you. Make him as much yours as you are his."

And he breathed on them again, soft and warm and loving. He could feel the pleasure pulsing through their bodies, spiraling wider to include him in their ecstasy, and the fox's breath caught; he'd never felt anything like it before. So much passion and love, completely obsessed with each other; so much pleasure, and ecstasy, the likes of which they would never, ever find with anyone else, only with each other. By all that was holy… Kyuubi felt almost faint.

It was time…

His head dropped, his breath was hot and moist where they were merged together. It was time to make them both climax, make them mark each other, and fulfill the new destiny he had in store for them. And though it would diminish him just a little bit more, he would have what he would have. His kit and his cub, together, forever. They would take his place in the scheme of things. It was time…

When the two of them, locked together in what seemed like an eternity of pleasure so intense, they thought they would die, felt that hot wet tongue, rough and tingling, lave over their joining, it was too much. To much heat, too much wetness, to much pleasure and power surging through their sensitive bodies.

"Now…" Kyuubi breathed against their union.

Their eyes were open, locked on each other as their bodies trembled a moment, poised on the brink of ultimate completion, open and glowing so brightly, they lit the surrounding clearing with a soft red luminescence. They shivered, then shuddered, and then fell over, with sharp cries from opened mouths that glowed softly red for a moment, canines elongated.

And they were coming, together, their orgasms ripping through their bodies with the force of a supernova, bright, burning, completely obliterating, and they buried their faces in each other necks, sharp teeth sinking deep, the glint of blood and red tinted saliva. One suck, that was all it took, and they were lost.

Their shared climax spiraled wide and hot, and caught Kyuubi in its brilliant sweep. The great fox jerked, coiled tighter against the shuddering, straining bodies, and he then threw back his head and howled to the fiercely white moon overhead as he fell over with them into bliss.

And a blinding light burst in the clearing, setting the roiling pond alight. It shot between the shaking trees, fluttering leaves, and panicked wildlife. It flashed high and bright into the sky in glittering beams that touched and pieced the night darkened wisps of clouds. It was a sudden burst of power and light that could be seen for miles.

And then all went dark.

It took a very long moment for the fox to finally lift his head, shaken and utterly spent by not only what he had done, but by what he had felt.

Safely ensconced in the shelter of his quivering tails, lay his children, still locked together, the red glow of their eyes extinguished by closed lids, their bodies slick with sweat and Naruto's precious semen, shivering softly in exhausted and satiated rest. Breath finally slowing, thundering heartbeats gradually calming.

They murmured words of love softly, snuggled closer to each other. There was the moist sound of Sasuke sliding free of his mate's body, but the two of them were much too drowsy and satisfied to take note. And then they were asleep. Deeply asleep.

Kyuubi dipped his head, nudged theirs aside slightly, and began to lick blood and saliva from their wounded necks. The flesh tingled a moment, and then began to heal. And the great fox smiled in satisfaction.

There, on each of their necks, ironically not very far from where Sasuke's curse seal used to lay, were his own seals. The exact duplicate, except in miniature, of the seal that once adorned Naruto's belly. The mark of the Nine Tailed Demon Lord, assigned to him so long ago by the Yondaime. But it was no longer solely his mark now. Now it stood for them, his heirs, his successors. His Kit and his Cub.

It was done.


	11. Chapter 11

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 11

Stone cold sober, Tsunade had not slept, eaten, or drank sake since the arrival of Neji's bird yesterday. In the last thirty six or so hours since then, she'd spent a great deal of time exactly where she was right now; by the window of her office. Her mind was so filled with questions and uncertainties that she couldn't do anything but stand here, and wonder, eyes vacantly roaming the night darkened streets and forests of Konoha. Clenched tightly in her fist, was Naruto's old headband, which Neji had presented to her; spoils from Sound.

It was here that she stood after she finally stopped crying in Shizune's arms. Here she stood when she watched the return of Neji's group from Sound. Stood here and wept all over again, alone, at the heart breaking and earth shaking news that group imparted to her.

Was Naruto alive after all? She so desperately wanted to believe. God, so much. But rock solid witnesses, like Neji and Kakashi, were so shaken when they related the terrible death of the boy she looked at like her lost brother, no… like a son. It would take more than the quixotic tales of a girl that by all accounts, had completely lost her mind when Naruto died virtually in her arms, or a rambunctious boy that had worshiped the ground Naruto walked on for years.

Both Neji and Kakashi, though they had by their own words offered tribute to the Naruto creature in the clearing a few dozen miles away, were still as uncertain as she was, and they had been there.

And Hinata.

Now, there was an eye opener. Though the girl was as changed as could possibly be and still remain the same person, she'd always been so hung up on the blonde. She had, in her own way, been even more creepily a stalker than Sasuke's old fan club. Could she trust the judgment of a young woman that was so obsessed with Naruto that she cried out his name when laying with her husband, that had seen every inch of Naruto on the sly; clothed, naked, clear down to the very molecules that made up his body? Especially in light of the traumatic experience she indulged willingly in with Gaara under the garden in Sound. Could she trust the judgment of such a witness? Could Hinata simply be so convinced because, like Tsunade herself, she simply had to believe just to make it through the day?

And yet… the farmer's ludicrous tale, that she'd so angrily dismissed, echoed uncannily by the same rock solid witnesses that fueled her own doubts even now? Had Kyuubi brought both Naruto and Sasuke back, by some demon magic or science? Was Naruto, her Naruto, remade whole, healed in mind and body from the terrible and tragic life he'd lived in Sound?

_Naruto!_

At this particular moment in time, she felt every second of her age, and then some. Even so, she wished she was beside Jiraiya right now.

The perverted Sannin, the moment he heard the incredulous tale imparted by Neji and the others, was out combing the woods even now, Iruka by his side, convinced that Naruto was alive, convinced that said blonde would be home by tomorrow morning.

And Tsunade hoped he was right, even as she wept anew now, fingers splayed helplessly across the glass of her window. Hoped and prayed and begged to whatever god might possibly be listening.

_Naruto… come home!_

And she was still standing there, when the skies to the north lit up like a bank of search lights, blazing like a beacon in the dark and uncertain night.

It was dark, and Iruka was more tired than he remembered being in a very long time. But he would drop in his tracks before he gave up, even for a moment. It had taken him, Jiraiya, Shizune, and Gai less than two hours to travel the distance it had taken Neji's group six hours at quick march.

It had been easy to find the clearing Kakashi had marked with a chakra beacon. And all four of them had stood there for several long moments; heads tilted back, senses extended, and felt for themselves the faint chakra remnants of the boy they wanted to find so badly.

As Hinata said, it was slightly different, but still, it simply reeked of Naruto. How many times had all of them sensed this almost exact trace? To often to count, especially for Iruka and Jiraiya, who had spent more time with Naruto than the other two. And then they had all followed the trail that Neji's group had at first.

Kyuubi, if that was who it really was, had taken the two boys deep into the forest before the trail vanished as if they had taken to the skies. Which, in consideration of everything to date, was entirely possible. They paused but a moment at the very end of the trail, and then broke into four different directions. Naruto had been here; Iruka could feel it, could taste it on the very wind. Naruto had been here, and one of them would find him if it was the last thing they did.

And so Iruka was combing the woods, moving quickly, but sending out a blanket of chakra that would alert him if even the faintest trace of the boy he felt was truly his son turned up. He was exhausted, almost spent, but still gripped by unshakable determination.

And by the luck of the draw, Iruka was the closest when the sky went off with a thousand beams of glittering light, so bright it lit the woods with an eerie whiteness, and felt the blast of power so strong he almost fell to his knees.

It was as if the light itself was bound up with chakra, flashing through the very trees, as dense as they were, shooting up into the sky mingled with threads of Naruto's own chakra.

Naruto! He could feel him, so close, it was like the boy was pressing up against him, like he had as a child, pressed so close, smiling cheekily up at him.

Naruto! The revitalizing force that had made him realize that life was worth living after his parents were killed by the very thing that resided in the blonde boy that stole his heart. His son. Naruto. So close, he could almost smell him.

Before that amazing display of power and light even so much as dimmed, he was back on his feet, thrusting his way through the brush and bracken that tried to hinder him in what he would have! Naruto!

And when the skies went dark again, so profound after the brillance of the energy blast as to be like an impenetrable gloom, he forged on. Naruto… closer now, he could feel it. Could feel _him!_

Iruka found himself staggering into a clearing, lit brightly by ordinary moonlight now, lovely, pristine, untainted. The tinkling of a small waterfall was like music to his ears, and the light that glanced off the unusually thick water in the pond almost blinded him after his forced run through the dark forest.

And he stopped, dead in his tracks.

A massive red fox, almost as big as a horse, lay very close to the water. And it was Kyuubi; Iruka had seen it so long ago, on a night his life took a turn for the worse, on the night his parents died, on the night his beloved Hokage had died.

And Iruka barely even paid heed. Because what his eyes were riveted on, what he couldn't look away from, was the sleeping boy, looking as if he'd graduated from the Shinobi academy just yesterday, naked and whole and so very, very alive!

"Naruto!"

He stood there, swaying with exhaustion, with amazement, with utter and complete relief and joy.

He didn't see the dark haired boy coiled as tightly around the blonde as a watch spring, didn't see the great fox head swing his way, didn't hear the soft menacing growl emitted by something he'd hated and feared and resented all his life. Couldn't do anything but stand there, fingers knotted white to the knuckles under his chin as he wept silent tears of gratitude.

_Naruto!_

Between one frantic beat of his heart and the next, all went dark.

Iruka snuggled deeper into sleep. Hmmm… it must be the weekend; that was the only thing that could explain why he was still abed when the sun shone so bright and warm on his face. God, he loved weekends… sleeping in, getting a respite from the lively and always trying children at the academy.

Yes… sleeping in was so very good in the warm sunshine; the warm sunshine that Naruto had so loved to sleep in, sunning himself like a lazy cat.

Naruto!

Iruka sat bolt upright, unable to believe he'd just been laying here in the forest, sleeping like a log, when Naruto had been so close. Frantically, he looked around.

The little dell was even lovelier by day than it was by night, but there was no Naruto. Only Jiraiya and the others, sitting nearby and watching him with hooded eyes.

"Finally awake, I see," the Sannin said with a faint smile.

Iruka scrambled to his feet, staggered as a wave of vertigo rushed through him, and didn't fall simply because Shizune took hold of his elbow and steadied him.

"Did you find him?" Iruka asked with excitement. "Is he here? Naruto!"

Gai shook his head sorrowfully, as did Shizune.

"No. He's not here. But he was. And you saw him, didn't you?" Jiraiya was staring at him shrewdly.

Nodding frantically, words stumbling over each other like puppies in a basket, Iruka told them of his tale.

And only then paused, thunderstruck.

"It _was _Naruto! I saw him! And it was Kyuubi; Sakura and Konohamaru were right. It was Kyuubi. And yet, I'm still alive!"

"Obviously, the fox demon doesn't feel the need for wholesale slaughter as it used to." Shizune said softly. "In its own way, Kyuubi is as changed by everything as Naruto is."

There was a long moment of silence, and then the other three related their night; how they'd all seen the lights, felt the power. How they moved as quickly as they could towards it, but found the going more and more difficult with every passing footstep, until it was like a thickening jungle before them. Completely unassailable. Then the dawn broke, the sun rose, and shortly thereafter, it was a normal forest again. And when they'd converged on this clearing, one after the other, they'd found Iruka laying there, apparently asleep, but they'd been unable to wake him. Thus, they'd scouted the area, taken note of important things, and waited for the teacher to finally wake from whatever coma had stricken him.

Iruka stared at the little cave, the remnants of the feast, the hollows of sand where Sasuke and Naruto had made love, where Kyuubi had lain beside them. They'd learned all that and nothing more. Once more it was as if the fox and boys had taken wing; there was no trail to follow; physical or spiritual. Once more they were back to square one.


	12. Chapter 12

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 12

Sasuke woke slowly, languidly, feeling more contented than he ever had in his life. Naruto was snuggled close to his chest, arms around his waist, their legs tangled together. And they were both as naked as the day they were born, nestled deep in the downy softness of Kyuubi's tails.

Sleepily, Sasuke let his hand trail slowly down the warm satin of Naruto's back, following the gentle curve of his spine and then the rounded firmness of that pert and perfect backside. Half hard from the moment he woke, his fingers drifted into the heated and secretive cleft hidden so coyly between those delectable globes, it became even warmer, and was more than a little sticky.

The memories of the previous night flashed through his mind with the force of a fist to the gut; excruciating heat, exquisite tightness, mind bending pleasure, and the most delicious mewls and cries coming from his dobe…

_His mate!_

His partial erection became a full blown throbbing, pressing against the flank of the only creature under the sun that had the power to excite him to sheer mindlessness.

"Mine," he whispered possessively, those fingers moving in slow and sticky circles around that tightly crinkled rosebud. It twitched under his touch and Naruto gave a soft and needy moan. Sasuke felt something that wasn't his own penis becoming hard and hot against his belly, and smirked triumphantly.

Obviously, Naruto was as obsessed and intense and hot for him as he was for the blonde.

Rising up on one elbow, he leaned over his mate and planted a lingering and moist kiss on the point of Naruto's bare shoulder, tickling and teasing that hot little entrance.

Blue eyes slowly opened, making the glorious morning sky suddenly pale and drab. God, those eyes, those beautiful endless eyes! Sasuke's breath caught in his throat to see all the love and drowsy passion there just for him. They kissed, long and deep and wet, tongues as loving as their hearts and bodies.

"Claim me again," Naruto whispered in a husky voice, eyes clouding with desire. At the time when Chichiue had said such to his littermate last night, Naruto hadn't really understood. But now… God, Naruto knew and wanted more. Right now.

He softly pushed back against Sasuke's exploring fingers, feeling the tip of one sinking slightly inside. "Yessss… like that… please…"

Sasuke made a hissing sound in the back of his throat. "My pleasure, beautiful." Already he was more than painfully excited, logic and reasoning flying out the window under his dobe's passionate blue eyes and gently squirming body. Shit… if he didn't do something soon, he was going to come right against all that warm velvet.

Though a dim haze, Sasuke realized there was a whole lot more of Naruto to love than before; after the sleep of night and the apparent massive growth spurt last night mature intimacies triggered, but Sasuke was more than okay with that. More warm skin to kiss and lick, more sensitive spots to discover and tease.

Last night they had been children when they first came together. Now, they were men.

They squirmed together, sliding over each other's bodies, until Naruto was laying on his belly, swollen length trapped beneath him being mercilessly and deliciously ground into the warm, slightly damp sand below. Sasuke hovered over him, on his hands and knees, kissing and tonguing the tender nape of Naruto's neck, tongue rasping over the faded but still legible seal on the blonde's neck.

Naruto gasped to feel a sudden jolt race through him at that intimate lick, and he lifted his rear, pressing it firmly against the hard heat at Sasuke's groin. Sasuke's own gasp to feel the firm curve against his erection followed right on the other's heels.

"Sasuke… my mate…" Naruto mewled, feeling that hardened length sliding insanely along the sticky cleft of his rear, a mimicry of last night's actions. "Please… inside me… come inside me again…"

Hearing the blonde call him his mate and ask him to do that twisted the last of Sasuke's rationale. He didn't even think to check the pond; it would have fruitless in any event. Whatever power Kyuubi had used to turn water to oil had long ago passed, but happily enough, it wasn't needed. Sasuke's essence from the night before had been leaking slowly but surely from Naruto's deepest recesses, leaving him warm and slippery and anxiously ready to feel his lover deep inside once more.

A quick shudder at the stab of lust that lanced right through his belly, Sasuke only had to shift minutely, and he was sliding slick and deep again. He gave a sharp cry of pleasure when Naruto instinctively flexed to keep that pleasurable shaft inside. Still being completely innocent despite their sexual need for each other, neither realized that what had happened last night, what was happening right now, and what would happen whenever they came together like this was not normal. Sasuke would never have to ease his blonde upon penetration; the moment Naruto's body recognized the penis entering his body, it would loosen and open like the bud of a flower to the sun. There would never be any pain in their unions.

Kisses and nips, licks and sucks were exchanged, wherever and whenever lips met flesh.

Naruto gave a long and whimpering moan, hands fisting in Kyuubi's luxurious tails at the long, endless, heart stopping glide, at the skip and jump of that meaty tip over the fleshy node that cloaked his prostate gland. Their bodies were even more made and meant for each other now; Sasuke's body was designed to bring the ultimate pleasure to his blonde mate and lover, as Naruto's was designed to grip and hug his guardian's body.

Kyuubi's tails twitched in reaction to those tightly gripping fingers, and the great red fox's right leg kicked slightly, but the fox never woke. Still drained from his works the night before, it would take more than Naruto's and Sasuke's pleasured motions against his body to wake him. He wuffled softly in contentment, his sleep shrouded mind realizing what was afoot and encouraging it.

Sasuke moulded himself against the blonde's back, as Naruto arched up like a cat into his lover's embrace. The sudden frantic need that drove them to this point eased back as they panted softly, reveling in the feel of their lovemaking. When Sasuke moved again, it was a slow thrust, and an even more languid retreat, and Naruto undulated with him in a graceful dance.

Though the motions between them were slow and tenderly passionate, they were no less moved or enthralled than if it was another wild merging. Naruto quivered and breathed in staccato pants, occasionally giving a soft mewling cry at a particularly pleasurable sensation, moving instinctively against his mate, his lover, his most precious person. He was lost in a haze of dreamy pleasure, no less exciting for being so leisurely. And Sasuke felt each and every throb and pulse, every slither and slide inside with a white hot lance of sensation. He gasped and whispered endearments in a hoarse pleasure soaked voice.

Never again would they come together by force, with pain, or in degradation. Only enduring passion, obliterating pleasure, and loving equality.

The pace quickened, but the tenderness, the devotion to each other never flagged. Naruto felt his mate harden further, swell even bigger inside him, and began to whimper his own words of affection. Sasuke felt the blonde cling more tightly to him, inside and out, and knew the end was close; the timeless pleasure and passion would have to end sometime, lest they die from the sheer sensations flooding their very souls. And together they climbed the penultimate swells of love, the rising and falling of breath and body, and were together, one mind, one body, one soul at the peak of their lovemaking.

They froze solid together, completely merged, and their soft cries of completion were of how much they loved each other.

When they finally became aware of their surroundings once more, they lay together, back to chest, still joined, hands like bodies, back to front, and fingers as tangled together as they were.

Naruto felt tears blurring his eyes. There was something so astounding to be with the dark haired boy like this. Something so wonderful and miraculous. He couldn't understand why, nor did that lack bother him. He was with his soul mate, his other half, his reason for being.

"I love you," he whispered softly, tightening his fingers around the other's, and felt the soft smile against the back of his neck, a burst of tangible emotions from the one behind and inside him, and knew that until the end of time, it would always be like this. Sasuke held him closer, and the movement of his cock still so deeply inbedded, the sensation of softening flesh against the drenched sheath made them both hitch a breath. And Sasuke began to harden again.

"You're mine, Naruto," the darker boy ground out, as he began to move again within. "Mine. And I'll never let you go."

"Good," Naruto panted, releasing one of Sasuke's hands to reach behind and cup the other's head, turning his own so that their lips could meet. Tongues tangled wetly, and hips shifted together harder this time, the motions more urgent, more needy, despite the release of a moment ago. "God, I will never have enough of you, Teme…"

Sasuke laughed a quick burst into that sweet mouth, his now free hand gripping the blonde's thigh, and turning it up and out, and sliding more firmly against that tenacious heat encasing him. Naruto obediently twined it around it's mate, and rocked back against each deep thrust. Sasuke's hand slid off that warm leg, and slipped to encircle a smaller length of flesh; hotter, harder, erotic and exciting as it pulsed against his palm.

It was over quickly this time, a hot flash, a sudden throb, and there was a burst of liquid fire deep in Naruto's core, mirrored by the one on belly and hand. Sasuke growled softly, holding his dobe close and hard, the better to feel every pulse and tick, every flutter and throb of their mutual climax.

And then they relaxed bonelessly together, laughing a bit breathlessly at their ever ready need for each other. Finally sated, they stayed together like that, kissing fleetingly, touching teasingly, quiet content to lay there together, wet, sticky and satiated until the end of time.

Or at least until the fluff and warmth of Kyuubi finally shifted, woke, and nudged their still joined bodies for a sleepy cat bath. They giggled when that rough tongue rasped over ticklish spots, and gasped when it laved sensitive bits. When the great fox was satisfied they were both clean from the exertions and passions of last night and this morning, they finally rose together, yawned, stretched and shook out the kinks.

Naruto playfully pushed Sasuke into the pond, and the wolf broke the surface with a shout of astonishment. The water was stimulatingly refreshing. Then, he shot from the water, grabbed the blonde, and drug him in with him, amid kisses and shoves and playful fisticuffs.

Kyuubi let them play, only listening to the laughter and shouts with half an each, as he sniffed the vine covered form of the encroaching human from last night.

When the man had stumbled across them the night before, the fox's first instinct was to kill the interloper that stood to take so much from himself and his cub. Honestly, he'd been too weary to do so, but he wouldn't have, in any event. This human had always been special to his kit. And though he had no intention of letting his golden prince return to his own kind, he was still grateful enough to the scar faced shinobi to let him live. Thus, when the vines had shot from the ground in the moonlight, they didn't crush and slay, but merely hid and drugged. He didn't want his precious kit to see this special man, and perhaps remember things better left forgotten.

Once Naruto and Sasuke finally waded from the pond, wringing water from their hair and chuckling, Kyuubi nosed some of the leftovers from last night on them, and they all ate to their hearts content. By the time they were finally finished, only a little remained of what had been a glorious feast.

And when they left the enchanted little dell in the mid morning, Naruto didn't even glance at the cluster of vines at the edge of the tree line.

Sasuke did though, and gave a quirky smile to the fox. He felt the unconscious man's chakra, dimly remembered it as something precious to his blonde, but dangerous to them all nonetheless.

In this lifetime at least, he and the great fox were in complete accord. Naruto was theirs, and theirs alone.

They vanished once more into the forest.


	13. Chapter 13

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 13

It was mid afternoon now, and Kyuubi was restless. Very restless. The morning, despite its beautiful beginning, had been slowly but surely taking a turn for the worse. Even Sasuke began to sense a deepening unease. Naruto, currently sunning himself on a sunshine drenched branch of a tree like a lizard, was half asleep.

They had paused at the crossroads of the creek from their little waterfall, and a greater tributary. Kyuubi was staring into it with unseeing eyes. They would have to cross this vast stretch of deceptively placid water. It rippled like a rill, but he knew that it was deep and treacherous, and he wanted to cross it as a last resort.

Despite the warmth of the day, the bright sunshine, to the west was a darkening bank of thunderheads. Lightening flashed intermittently, and though the resultant thunder was faint and lagging, it was moving roughly in their direction with haste. To the east was the faint and dogged traces of the man who'd almost interrupted their ceremony last night and his companions. It was as if by simply laying eyes on Naruto then, the man's zeal to find him had sharpened and deepened. They couldn't seem to shake them. Iruka and his compatriots were slowly but surely closing the gap. To the south lay Konoha, and danger. Yet, to the north lay the lands towards Sound, and going there was the last place the fox wanted to take his younglings anywhere near.

Pinned between a rock and a hard place, Kyuubi decide to brave the river crossing, risk moving closer to Naruto's birthplace, and hope they could avoid storm, city, and hunters.

To decide was to act, and with a rumble, he instructed the boys to climb on his back. Naruto watched drowsily as Sasuke nimbly clambered aboard the back of their chichiue, and when the pair moved beneath his branch, he allowed his mate to draw him down and into his arms.

A kiss, a tuck of head below chin, and their mount was wading into the deep waters of the Konoha River. Kyuubi allowed the current to catch him, using his great paws to steer, and floated down the river. Unfortunately, the current was carrying them farther down stream than he wanted, and it took considerable effort to stem their southwards flow towards the bank on the far side of the river.

Though it brought them in even closer proximity to the city, Kyuubi allowed a small feral smile to grace his muzzle. It would delay the men that pursued them a long while. Now, they just had to avoid possible Konohan patrols and the fast closing storm. He began to look for a suitable place to hunker down even as he scrabbled out of the water onto a high stony bank.

It was Sasuke's sharp eyes that found a safe haven for them. The river, in one of its bends and curves, had long ago carved out an inlet of water, almost like a lagoon. A large semi circle of crumbling earth gave way to the gnarled foot of the biggest tree Naruto had ever seen. The twisting roots dug deep, the earth between them slowly eroded away by time and the gentle lapping of water. It made a deep cave like hollow below the tree, upheld by a foundation of stubborn stone. Reedy grasses and a waterfall of honeysuckle hung low, like a sweet scented curtain. In the rising wind, the flora waved, and the keen sharingan eyes of the Uchiha had noted the darkness below.

Shaking excess water from his paws and fur, throwing a cooling spray of mist on the boys which made Naruto laugh, and he followed his fox and mate into the aromatic if slightly muggy hollow beneath the oak. Kyuubi made himself comfortable on the rock shelf over the water, tails curled tightly in to keep them inside, and the boys snuggled close to him.

As the skies darkened and the air thickened, broken by intermittent flashes and closer rumbles, Sasuke reached up, plucked a spray of honeysuckle, and proceeded to teach his dobe the joys of drinking nectar. However, watching the blonde lazily sucking on the delicate sprays of pistils began to tug on Sasuke's libido. God, was there anything the dobe could do that didn't turn his mate on?

Apparently not.

Things were getting interesting, and Sasuke thought that as sweet as the nectar was on his blonde's tongue, nothing tasted better than Naruto himself, when the storm broke around them with unbridled fury.

As passionate as both of them were, the constant crash of thunder and almost continuous lightening was very distracting. Not to mention the storm had turned the deep and placid waters of the river to a boiling morass. The water that usually lapped away at their little hiding place had turned into a leaping dash and prickle of spray. Kyuubi shifted uneasily, the scent of ozone heavy and sharp on the air. He wrapped his tails tighter, covering the boys from the worst of the storm lashed water.

The semi gloom of their rocky nest was suddenly filled with the blinding flash of lightning, the sharp and deafening crack of thunder following immediately. There was an explosive sound of rupturing wood, and the roots above and around them split and shattered into splinters. Fire shot up around them as the tree among whose roots they sheltered sustained a direct strike of thousands of volts. The very rock split asunder as the tree shuddered, split into three parts, and began to slide burning into the water.

It all happened so quickly, no one really could react; they were tingling, and hair and fur stood on end as a momentary halo of electricity danced around them. The wood and stone protected them from the worst of the massive charge, but their presence was almost as bad. Slivers of wood were thrown in all directions like deadly senbons, and tiny flakes of stone cut and sliced tender flesh. And in the blink of an eye they were in the violently turbulent river.

Naruto, torn free from his lover's arms and his chichiue's tails, clawed at the murky water as he was rolled and upended in the now racing current. Fighting his way to the surface, he was almost blinded by another flash of lightning, the water choppy and threatening to drag him under again. Frantically, he screamed Sasuke's name, called for Chichiue, but the constantly leaping water, flashes of light, constant thunder, and a pounding curtain of rain all but blinded and deafened him.

It seemed an eternity that he fought the waves, the wind, and the rain, frightened that he couldn't find his mate, his chichiue. He was terrified that something had happened to them, and he was more than a little daunted by the first violent storm of his short life. But nothing would keep him from his precious ones, and he struggled and writhed until his windmilling feet found purchase on the riverbank, clawing his way out of the roiling waters onto the grassy turf, and he clutched the earth, pelted by stinging rain, and coughing and gulping in precious air.

Then he shot up, was almost blown over by wind, and scrambled desperately up and down the bank, searching for his loved ones. Stinging rain mingled with warm tears, and he thought he would go mad from the constant lightening and thunder, with the fear that he would never see Sasuke or Kyuubi again.

After what seemed like years, the rain began to slacken, the wind to ease off, and the thunder and lightning moved further south, to bedevil Konoha and its environs. Shuddering with sobs, he drug a dirty hand across his eyes, and began to run along the banks again, calling and begging for Sasuke to respond, to answer, for Chichiue to come racing up to him like always.

But the sun began to peek though the storm streaming to the south, and Naruto found himself alone in the woods, his only companions the fading sounds of the storm, a gentle breeze, and a river swollen with debris.

Naruto threw himself down on the rain drenched grasses and wept bitterly. And finally, when the tears were spent, he got doggedly back up, looking definitely worse for wear, covered in mud even as the light injuries he'd sustained in the strike had already healed unnoticed. Somewhere out there was Sasuke, and now all he could think about was finding him, finding his mate, greeting him joyously, and then searching for their chichiue together.

He staggered along the back, blue eyes burning with determination, and continued his search, calling out every few moments for the one he had to have to survive.

The storm had long passed, the sun was shining, and steam was rising humidly from the ground and river. The mud on Naruto had hardened uncomfortably, and he finally threw himself into the once more placid waters at the edge to wash himself. His throat was sore from his constant calls, and he was feeling dispirited as he waded from the water once more, clean but weary beyond belief.

_Sasuke!_

His nose prickled once more, but he pinched himself hard. His mate was missing, and he was not about to dissolve into tears again like some girl. No matter if he was only eight days old. Besides, he was a man now, last night had seen to that. He was a man, and he had a mate to find.

He eyed another very tall tree, higher than the surrounding ones, and then made a beeline for it. He should be able to see for miles around from it. Surely he would find his Sasuke from its lofty crown.

In a flash he was scampering up the trunk like a deranged squirrel, and then he perched at the very top, swaying in the now gentle breeze, as his eyes hunted imperiously. He wanted his Sasuke, needed him. And by all that was holy, he was going to find him.

But as intently as he stared around, he did not find his mate. He did, however, spy the pinnacles and towers of Konoha, and the once familiar sight gave him a jar. He crouched at the top of the trees, eyes glued to those red and white roofs, those wood and brick walls, and one tower, taller than the rest, rounded, with a bank of glass windows encircling its top. Some of the windows had been broken in the storm, and already men looking like ants swarmed over the Hokage's tower, repairing them.

His vision telescoped, the far away scene leaping into sharp relief. It was as if he was looking through a telescope. He observed the repairmen, then turned his attention on the windows themselves, and froze.

A big blonde woman was standing in one of the broken panes, looking directly at him. He could see the red jewel on her brow, her burgundy eyes piercing his. She looked stunned to see him, her lips pursing as if she was whispering his name.

He felt shaken, and turned away. As fascinating as this all was, and so tantalizingly familiar, he couldn't really care less. He had to find Sasuke. He had to find Kyuubi. He scanned around again slowly, and then sighed.

Slithering down the three like a lizard, he leapt from the bottom branches to land lightly on the wet grass. And came face to face with a girl shorter than he was, light red hair gathered high on the top of her head, a scarf around her neck, her cheeks pinkened.

The girl stared at him, white as a sheet, and for a moment Naruto thought she might faint.

"N… Naruto?"


	14. Chapter 14

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 14

When the girl had stammered out his name, Naruto had felt a frisson of recognition. Not to mention, he'd never been alone before, and here, perhaps, was someone that would help him find his missing family. Not to mention, she held in her left hand a rather large basket, and the aroma of something insanely delicious wafted out.

"Hi!" He chirped welcomingly, nostrils quivering. He'd had nothing to eat since a light snack before they had gained the river, and he was very hungry. Hunger, like loneliness, was something new to him.

"Moegi, dammit, where are you?" A young male voice came from the bank of trees that separated them from Konoha. "I'm tired, and we've been working on repairs for forever. Can we please stop and eat now?"

The girl, Moegi, was still frozen in shock, unable to answer. And when Konohamaru finally shook off the last tendril of dripping vine, he understood why.

"Naruto-niisan!" And then he was confused. He'd seen this boy just yesterday, even if it seemed al lifetime ago, and he'd been much smaller and younger. However, like then, Konohamaru recognized his most precious person immediately. It also didn't hurt that Naruto now looked exactly the same age as he'd been when Sasuke had stolen him seven years ago. It was like those terrible years had never happened.

Naruto laughed sheepishly, reaching up to scratch the back of his head in such a trademark gesture both boy and girl almost burst into tears.

"Hey, I remember you. You were with those people yesterday, weren't you?"

That clinched it! Obviously the Kyuubi magic that had brought this wondrous creature back from the dead was still at work. Konohamaru nodded slowly, his brain squirming in his skull for something to say. Needless to say, Sakura, apparently completely recovered from the mental instability that had plagued her since she watched Naruto die, and Hinata, now frighteningly forceful, had cornered him the previous day and almost flagellated him for bringing up the blonde man's death.

But god, how he loved him, had missed him, and dreamt of bringing him home, and now, here he was, blonde and bright and god, so alive, less than two miles from Konoha itself. In fact, just beyond the trees was Udon's old farmhouse, and though that particular boy was still out on the east side of town with his repair team, the three of them practically lived with Udon's family.

Which was why they were here, now, taking what they believed was a much deserved rest from their own repair team on the north side of town. Moegi, as in love with Konohamaru as Sakura used to be with Sasuke, had made sure to be on the same team with him.

The loud and ferocious growling of Naruto's stomach broke the tense moment, and Moegi gave a high nervous giggle. She'd been so terribly afraid that a move or a word would send this obviously wild boy back into hiding, and that would break her Konohamaru's heart. Not to mention, no matter what, this boy before her was Leader! And he was here, now, and she would cement his appearance with food. Always worked with Naruto before. A ludicrous notion of luring Naruto back to Konoha with a trail of food assaulted her mind, and she giggled again, more easily this time.

"Well," she said, deciding one patch of moist ground was as good as another, "let's eat!"

Her words jarred her boyfriend from his mental labors, and he nodded, snapping the red and white checked blanket over his arm out, and spreading it over the ground. And he was suddenly blinded by an idea.

Ramen.

Sweet ramen. Salty, tasty, the nectar of the gods. If there was one thing Naruto had drilled into Konohamaru's head, it was of the importance and deification of Ichiraku's ramen. And Konohamaru was a devout follower of that religion. And Moegi, unknown to Konohamaru, had taken note of this long before Naruto had been abducted, and never failed to have some on hand to tempt the boy she had decided would soon be her husband. And because she'd wanted to lure him into the woods, she bought some just a half hour ago, safely ensconced in it's trademark box.

Grinning slyly, Konohamaru brought that out from the basket as Naruto folded his legs agreeably and sat down. And watched as those cerulean eyes spied the distinctive white and red carton and widened.

Nose quivering once more, Naruto decided he'd never smelled something so heavenly. Well, except for Sasuke, and though he loved to drink deeply of Sasuke, this was something altogether different. It flirted with his nostrils, the steam rising from the now open box dancing on the evening air, forming a dainty hand to caress his nose and beckon him towards the glories that lay inside. And Naruto was hooked. He licked his lips slowly, inching closer.

"Want some?" Moegi's almost as dainty hands brought out a bowl and slowly offered it to him.

Naruto's eyes dilated, telescoping in on that white gleaming bowl filled with broth and noodles and bits of meat and vegetables. It was an arousing sight, and his taste buds sharpened and moistened. It was as if his mouth was getting ready to make love, and Naruto was all for that.

"Thanks!" He yelped, grabbing the bowl, ignoring the heat in his hands, and proceeded to upend it into his mouth.

Oh, shit, oh god, it was so good! Sooooo goooooood…. Tasty and salty and delicious and scrumptious… noodles slithered down his throat and there was a wild party in his mouth. Naruto's right foot twitched, as if he wanted to stamp the ground, and still he swallowed more. Then…disaster struck!

The bowl… it was empty! It was gone! All that heavenly ambrosia… gone forever. Naruto wanted to cry.

Konohamaru and Moegi had been frozen to the spot by this amazing display of gluttony. Even for the Naruto they had once known, it was spectacular. In the less than two minutes it had taken for the other boy to empty the trademark huge bowl of ramen, he'd moaned and hummed and growled and mewled, and yet, never took a single breath. He'd literally inhaled the entire bowl. They were utterly transfixed, chopsticks still unbroken in Konohamaru's hand.

Then the white bowl was sliding from limp fingers, and Naruto turned towards them, his blue eyes huge, sheened with tears, stricken as if he'd lost something very precious to him. He looked as if his heart would break.

"More?" The blond haired creature whimpered like a crushed puppy.

Wordlessly, Konohamaru handed him the last bowl.

This time, Naruto took his time. Three minutes… tops.

Instead of swallowing the bowl whole, he took joy in slurping up the long noodles, sucking them into his mouth so quickly they whipped around in the air with a faint whistling sound, slinging droplets of broth until he realized he was loosing something precious. He did slow down minutely… can't waste this wondrous food! But it was still gone in no time flat, and even as Naruto was crunching the last of the carrots, he was eying the dots of broth lingering on Konohamaru's and Moegi's shell shocked faces. He twitched, and the other two thought for sure they would be pinned and licked clean, such was the evident intent in the blonde's eyes.

Naruto stopped eying them long enough to lick the bowl dry, and then dropped it. Once more the other two were the recipients of his intense regard, and he leaned forward, one hand on the blanket, and made as if to crawl towards them.

Then he froze. His eyes widened, and began to sparkle lustrously. He leapt up, having forgotten his two new companions, the food of the gods on their faces not withstanding, and began to run towards the river.

The two jumped up in dismay. "Come back!" they cried desperately. No, he was leaving, going away again. "Naruto, come back! We'll get more! As much as you want! I swear! Come back!"

But Naruto didn't go far.

Sasuke, looking like he'd been drug right along the river bottom, spattered with mud and bits of leaf and bracken clinging to him, exploded from the shrubbery at the edge of the river. "Naruto!"

"Sasuke!" Naruto caroled joyously, flinging himself into his mate's arms, weeping with happy relief. At last! At last!

They went down under Naruto's weight in a tangle of limbs, kissing frantically, hands roaming each other in greeting and the need to ensure each other that neither had taken any harm.

Konohamaru growled. How he hated the Uchiha! But Moegi laid a calming hand on his arm.

"Don't," she whispered softly. "Did you see his face? How happy he was to see him? Please, if you try to fight the Uchiha, we will lose him forever."

Moegi made it her business to know anything and everything that concerned Konohamaru. She'd been the first to greet the returning delegates yesterday, and had been silently and unobtrusively on hand to hear the reports. Even the ones not privy to Konohamaru himself.

She had mixed feelings for Sasuke Uchiha. She'd never really had much to do with him. The closest and most intimately she'd gotten with him was the report at the forest of death just before the Chuunin exams so many years ago. Since then, she'd only caught glimpses of him. Privately she wondered how something so dark and dour and downright unpleasant could catch the attention of their bright and cheerful leader. But Naruto was her second most beloved person, and Sasuke had been _his _most precious person, and so she'd been prepared to accept him into the circle of their lives once Naruto brought him back. But then the Uchiha had stolen him, and Moegi thought she would hate him until the day she died. And, having heard what she had yesterday, there was a very large part of her that always would.

But having been an orphan like Naruto, like Sasuke, and dedicating her life to being Konohamaru's most valued subordinate, and later his wife, she had learned easily what both the blonde and his devoted follower had difficulty with. Look underneath the underneath.

And seeing Naruto and Sasuke now, locked in each others arms, kissing, and touching and looking at each other with such heartfelt devotion, she was moved. Naruto was as obsessed with the Uchiha as ever, and Sasuke was different now, that much was obvious. The Uchiha knew they were there, she could feel his attention upon them even as he practically made love to the blonde in his arms. Knew they were there, and didn't care that he was revealing his soft and vulnerable underbelly; Naruto.

The old Sasuke would have killed anyone in watching distance rather than admit something like that.

And the menacing waves that rolled off the dark haired boy were simply those of possessive concern. It was obvious that the boy in the Uchiha's arms was the most important, most beloved, most precious thing in the world to him, and he would kill to protect it.

And Moegi could live with that.


	15. Chapter 15

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 15

It was a kiss sent down directly from heaven; heat and passion, and oh god, the scent of his lover, the warmth of his body, the appealing evidence that the other was just as sexually excited as he was. A gentle grind, a needy whimper, and the warmth of the sun on their backs.

They were alive! Alive and together.

Sasuke leaned back, running his tongue slowly over his own lips. He had a thoughtful look on his face. "You taste… different. What have you eaten?" And like a roll of left over thunder, the Uchiha's gut rumbled anxiously, only now asserting its quite empty state to its human.

_Feed me…_

And like a switch, Naruto was off on a different topic, even as he stayed hard against his mate. "Oh! Oh! Sasuke! It was the most wonderful food in the world! Even better than Chichiue's milk! Come and have some!" And Naruto rolled him onto his back, pressed against him teasingly for a moment, and then leapt up, dragging the other with him.

Such was the blonde's haste that Sasuke was almost dragged off his feet, even though he was following willingly.

To be met by two standing youngsters, seemingly the same age as they were now, watching them with veiled eyes.

Naruto was dancing in place excitedly. "More? More? I want my mate to taste it. It's unbelievable! Believe it!"

For a split second, Konohamaru wanted to cry to hear that last phrase from his leader's lips.

Without waiting for an answer, Naruto hunkered down, and began to rummage in the take out box…

…Only to find it utterly empty save for a lingering saliva inducing aroma of ramen.

And Moegi's mind was moving a mile a minute.

She knelt down beside the blonde, heard the warning growl from the Uchiha, and sidled a knee length away. "It's all gone, Naruto, but we can get some more, if you like. All the ramen you could eat. For you and for your… mate."

It would seem that luring Naruto to Konoha with a trail of food was not that farfetched after all.

"Really?" Naruto was even more excited than before. More of the divine substance? All he could eat? "Oh…" A deep trembling sigh of anticipation.

Sasuke was watching the pair; the thinly veiled hostility in the boy, the obvious duplicity of the girl. He wanted no part of them. Or of this accursed place that made the dormant memories within him stir so uneasily.

"Dobe, we can't stay. We have to find Chichiue." He gently tugged his mate to his feet.

Naruto wilted, ashamed of his blind greed. How could he have forgotten? He nodded slowly. "Yes, you're right, koi."

Oh, no. Moegi was not going to let this golden opportunity to slip away. She rose swiftly, smiling gently.

"But we can send out search parties if we go. Surely, we'll find your dad then. And just think how much more quickly the search will go if there are more than just two looking…"

She was so anxious that even Naruto began to pick up on the strange vibes radiating off her. He stared quietly at her. "Thank you. It is very kind of you to offer to do this for us, and we accept. But we will start now. Thanks for the ramen, and surely we will meet again."

"Naruto, wait!" Konohamaru cried desperately.

There was a crashing of someone running through the brush, closing in on them. Both Naruto and Sasuke leapt back instinctively, and another boy broke through, dashing up to them, calling out as he came.

"Konohamaru! Moegi! Come quick, come quick! We caught the fox! Now we just have to make it lead us to Nar…u…to…."

The boy stumbled to a halt to see exactly who was with his friends.

"You have the fox?" Sasuke ground out, feeling a tide of angry heat rising inside him.

"Chichiue?" Naruto cried out at the same time. "You found our Chichiue?"

When Naruto would have eagerly stepped forward, Sasuke pulled him more protectively into his arms. "No, Naruto. They _caught _Chichiue, not found him." His voice was dropping to a thread of malice.

"Udon!" Moegi groaned in exasperation, slapping her forehead.

"Caught?" Naruto echoed in bewilderment. "Why would anyone want to catch our Chichiue?" He turned to look in confusion at the two that had seemed so nice before.

"Why do you want Naruto so badly?" Sasuke growled threateningly. "It's all we've heard since we met you people. He's mine. Mine."

When Konohamaru made to open his mouth in furious denial, Moegi slapped the back of his head. Normally, she would never do such a thing, but she had to shut her hotheaded boyfriend up before he ruined everything.

"We see that, Uchiha-san," She said levelly. "And I'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding. We would never do anything to hurt Naruto. We love him."

Even more confused than before, Naruto clung to that which he knew, his mate. "But why? I don't even know you!"

"But we know you, Naruto. And once upon a time, you knew us. We were friends," Moegi went on soothingly. "It was a long time ago, but we haven't forgotten. Come with us. Let us find your Chichiue and I'm sure everything can be cleared up."

Sasuke was tense. He knew this was very bad. He suspected a trap. But if they really had Kyuubi, they would have to go with them. Go with them and free their Chichiue. Then they could shake the dust of this accursed place from their heels forever.

He would just stay very close to Naruto, keep him safe, get their father, and get out unharmed. He was the guardian. He would do it. Or he would die trying.

"Come on, Naruto, let's go get Chichiue." He said softly, running slightly trembling fingers through the luxurious gold hair. Dear god, please be with us now!

Naruto nodded quickly, confusion turning to anxious unease.

The quick walk through the forests, past Udon's farmhouse, and through the winding streets of the city were made in tension, broken only by Moegi's weak attempts to ease them with convictions that once everyone saw Naruto and heard what he had to say, everything would be fine.

The closer they got to the center, the more it was apparent that something unusual was going on. People were shouting in excitement, and running in the same direction they were going. Crying out things like at last, and vengeance, and retribution.

Sasuke grew cold, more and more of his memories forced to the surface of his mind.

They were talking about Kyuubi. Alarmed, he began to run, taking Naruto right along side him. His blonde caught his concern, and was running in step with him, the unease growing every greater in his beautiful face. Sasuke cursed this terrible place.

The reached some sort of wide plaza, and though they were still far from the center of Konoha, it was obviously this area's market place. But the fabulous stores and amazing buildings still left the two unmoved from their fear and worry.

And as soon as they left the cobbled street into the brick lined avenue, a terrible sight met their eyes.

The great fox lay on the stones, blood beginning to slowly seep into a pool below his matted body. He was crisscrossed from snout to tails with chakra glowing ropes, his red and black eyes rolling wildly. Crowds surged about him, kicking him, hitting him, spitting on him, taking out kunai and stabbing him!

"Kill the fox!" They screamed. "Kill the Yondaime's bane!"

There were two, however, that were running about, screaming for the madness to stop, trying to halt the enraged mob.

Sakura and Iruka.

The boys froze, staring at the horrific scene before them.

And the last of Sasuke's memories boiled out, and became one with his consciousness.

It came to him like a slap that others were aiding the fox; Shino was summoning insects, already he could hear a rising hum from the forests, but it would be too late to save the fox. Shikamaru was desperately moving with the sun, using his shadow to halt the insanity, but he was but one man. Ino was jumping from soul to soul, but the rising rage was too great, she kept getting forced back out. Kakashi had summoned his nindogs, which barked and snarled and bit, but they were his people, he couldn't command them to kill. Beside him was Gai, no smile on his face, only a thunderous frown as he slapped people left and right, hard enough to stun. Chouji had enlarged his hands, sweeping the rioters away, but they were scrambling right back over the huge fleshy limbs. Lee was a whirling spinning dervish about his strong wife, keeping her safe even as he tried to reason with the townsfolk. Ten Ten had out her blunt weapons, but like the nindogs, she could not use deadly force against her own. Neji was moving like the wind, and people were falling, stunned with their chakra blocked, but he too was one man against hundreds. Gaara's sand was spinning in a graceful dance around his wife, who was using her gentle fists as well, but Gaara was not quite so restrained as the Konohan ninjas. He wasn't striking to kill, but there would be more than a few broken bones. Kiba and Akamaru were snarling and working with the nindogs to subdue, but all they got were fists and kicks. And the Hokage, realizing that her words were being ignored, whistled shrilly for her ANBU. He couldn't see Kurenai, Asuma, or the other two Sand nins, but he knew they were there too, working to aid the Nine Tailed Demon.

He watched them a moment, stunned to see them fighting for something they'd always hated and feared, and knew they did it simply for love of Naruto; because their blonde was so attached to this new kinder and gentler Kyuubi. They flickered in and out of the crowd, desperate but determined. But the entire village had gathered, and they had become a mob mentality; filled with blood lust. Kyuubi would be slain. Chichiue… would die. And not only would Naruto's heart break, but so would his.

"STOP!" Sasuke screamed, darting forward to rescue the only real father he'd ever known, as even Fugaku had been so cold and remote as to never really seem like a father.

Iruka stopped, as did Sakura, their jaws dropping in horror to see the Uchiha bearing down on them, eyes blazing red and pinwheeling. The tomoes were spinning, enlarging, and beginning to merge. Sasuke was calling on the powers newly instilled inside him to stop this heinous crime.

Sasuke ran right past them, and plowed into the crowd, flinging startled townsfolk left and right in an effort to get to his Chichiue.

"It's the Uchihan Traitor!" They began to chant, mingling with the ongoing demands for Kyuubi's death. "Sharingan! Kill them both! Devil's spawn!"

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, sensing the deadly intent focusing upon his mate. "Sasuke!" And he broke from his horrified trance to run after him.

"Naruto!" Iruka cried, bursting into tears. How did this come to pass? It was madness, left and right, and Naruto would only end up hurt anew. He caught the boy as he went to run by, and held him close.

But before Sasuke had fully powered up his Sharingan, he was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. A big rawboned merchant appeared suddenly, and clubbed the wolf on the back of his head with a shovel.

It was a blow so hard, they heard the boy's skull crack. He folded up, landing hard on the blood stained bricks, and did not move.

And Naruto began to scream.


	16. Chapter 16

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 16

Warning... Mayhem and considerable angst.

Couldn't be avoided people.

Tsunade was both appalled and horrified. The town had completely degenerated into murderous fury. Though it was considerably understandable, given Konoha's and Kyuubi's history, but to see the people, _her _people, filled with such… animalistic emotions. They were slobbering, literally slobbering on themselves, spittle flying in their gleeful rage. They grunted and cursed, and would not be reasoned. And the more the few valiant folk tried to help, the worse they became, no longer cognizant enough to distinguish friend from foe.

Ino fell, bleeding profusely from her head. A grizzled old shopkeeper cackled evilly as he ripped the clothes from her young and nubile body. Neji was being pulled down, and subjected to the same horrors as Kyuubi had. Shikamaru was lying in a bloody heap, two kunai protruding from his back. There was no sign of the Sand nin, or Hinata; Gaara, seeing what was happening, had taken his family away. Four men were jumping on Chouji, laughing with ill intent as they mauled one of their own. Kakashi's nin dogs had vaporized; Pakkun had been viciously slain, and he had dispelled the rest lest they suffer the same fate. Gai and Lee were down, with Sakura, disbelieving tears streamed down her face as she stood over her husband and his mentor, protecting them with her desperate fists until she too was pulled down, and subjected to the same ignominy as Ino. Her fighters, her family, were being desecrated and killed.

Tsunade's eyes burned, even as the ANBU were forced to retreat, taking as many innocents with them as they could. Her curse seal scrolled across her face as she bit her thumb and slammed her hand against the ground, even as Jiraiya did across the mob from her. Gamabunta and his slug counterpart appeared in spirals of gray smoke, and they were instructed to mow the violators down.

This anarchy, this whole scale slaughter of Konohans must stop. The towns folks were even turning on each other. Knives were flashing, pitchforks stabbing, jutsu's cast left and right.

Konoha was literally tearing itself apart before her horrified disbelieving eyes.

Iruka, holding the crying screaming boy he loved so much, wept himself, and wondered how everything could have turned out so ugly, so damaging. It was he himself that found Kyuubi, unconscious on the banks of the river just outside of Konoha. It was he and Jiraiya and Shizune that had bound him in Chakra ropes and brought him to the city. It had been their intention to bring him to the Hokage, who would in turn use him to find Naruto.

But towns people has seen them; seen and realized who their captive was. They'd gotten no farther than here, before they'd been overwhelmed. Shizune had sped off to fetch the Hokage, and things had degenerated from there.

And now, he had Naruto exactly where he was; safe in his arms. And it was horrible. He could feel the renewed innocence of his sweet boy burning up from the inside at what was happening now.

Oh, Iruka still hated Kyuubi, with every fiber of his being. This creature had slain his parents, destroyed his life, and the lives of everyone then alive in Konoha. He had killed the Yondaime, and had made Naruto's life a living hell.

But… Kyuubi had lessened himself, obviously. Otherwise all three of them would have died five minutes into their capture, when Kyuubi began to rouse. He was not the Nine Tailed Demon Lord anymore. Still ninetailed, still a demon, but no lord. And Iruka was convinced it was because of what he'd done for Naruto.

He'd brought Naruto back from the dead, healed him, body mind and spirit, and had healed Sasuke as well, giving the wolf to his kit, because it was what Naruto had wanted. He had done all this… for love of Naruto.

And likewise, for love of Naruto, Iruka would set aside his hatred, his desire to kill for vengeance. For Naruto.

And yet, here Naruto stood, heart shattering, mind twisting, as he watched the only loving parent he'd ever known be brutally murdered before his eyes.

It was a crime on par with what he'd lived through in Sound; the utter destruction of all that was good and sweet and bright inside this amazing young man.

In Iruka's arms, Naruto was dying all over again. And this time, there would be no resurrection. This time, Naruto would have to live or die with what was happening now.

When he heard the crack, and saw the Uchiha fall, he knew… it was over. Naruto would be no more. He would either fade, like he had in Sound, or he would simply die, inside, and the outside would follow.

For every Naruto, there must be a Sasuke. He'd learned that painfully over the years.

And all the bright hopes and dreams Iruka had nurtured in the last twenty four hours since he'd learned Naruto was alive and well and deliriously happy, vaporized in the heat of jubilant ignorance and murderous glee.

Like the dark boy who now lay bleeding and motionless on the bricks beside the creature that had given them all back what they'd so wanted, his boy, his Naruto, was dying right now in his arms.

As for Naruto, he was completely devastated. So much love and joy for so few days, and it was over. The bright day had ended in a storm of greater proportions than that of the one that had split the three of them asunder. All he knew and loved and found good in the world was torn to shreds in the slavering jaws of strangers.

And in the blank incomprehension that followed, his mind fractured, split, and then ruptured. The doors in his mind, once firmly closed, and then sealed over by Kyuubi, burst open, all of them, all at once. Every second of the past twenty two years streamed through those doors, flooding what was left of his mind, inundating his shivering spirit. Twenty two years of hate and distrust, pain and fear, humiliation and degradation that had reached a shattering crescendo a little over a week ago.

Hatred flooded his soul, rage swelled within him. Filled him, and then burst free, like a rain swollen deluge held back by a beaver's dam.

He grew very still, blue slowly brightening in his eyes.

"Let me go, Iruka-sensei," he said softly, venom lacing his voice.

And the nightmare that Iruka had thought arrived, was suddenly a thousand times worse.

Naruto _remembered!_

Naruto didn't even wait to see if the man would obey, he flung out his arms, and everyone in a ten foot radius from him was flung violently away, Iruka included.

His chakra was boiling, a fuming inferno that his physical body simply couldn't contain. The power rippled wider, pushing down friend and foe alike. He dropped to his hands, then his knees. Massive red tipped ears exploded upon his head, fingernails lengthened into deadly talons. Nine glorious red tipped golden tails burst from the base of his spine even as tawny fur exploded all over.

Naruto was no playful fox, no gregarious or frightened kit. He grew, elongated, rising higher and higher as his power continued to spiral out of control.

Windows shattered, bricks cracked, wood split. And still he grew.

The Hokage's tower, once hidden by the surrounding buildings, was now easy to see from his new, much higher viewpoint.

And the wild riot, the murderous mob, was silenced and subdued by what now towered over them, golden tails lashing furiously at the sky, and the buildings directly behind Naruto were reduced to rubble. Black whiskers, as long as a train engine, bristled with rage. And two enormous sky blue eyes stared down at the damned city and its hellish denizens with hate.

Iruka fell to his knees, utterly demoralized. He'd seen this terrible sight before, twenty two years ago. Surely, it was now inside Konoha, not out. And the enraged demon had been red with red and black eyes, instead of gold with cerulean blue.

Once more, the Nine Tailed Demon Lord stood poised to utterly destroy Konoha, and it was Naruto Uzumaki, inside and out.


	17. Chapter 17

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 17

It was a scene from the many layers of Hell. The great golden fox towered over the quailing city, tails lashing, a cacophonous hissing flowing out over gleaming fangs. Flames had shot up in a huge circle around the square, leaping and dancing with deadly heat, trapping the murderous mob where they wailed.

Naruto leapt forward, slamming into the ground over Sasuke, legs braced firmly, and utterly crushed the big man that had struck the boy down. One paw swept out, bowling the villagers over, and killing a few, and sliced the chakra ropes that bound Kyuubi like rubber bands. He then gently cradled his Chichiue and brought him to the safety of his bosom, where Sasuke was. Bursts of chakra whirled out, and slew the two men that hovered frozen in their uncompleted lascivious crimes over two half clothed and stricken kunoichi. Ino and Sakura were then likewise brought close to his breast. One by one Naruto claimed his friends, and brought them close to his body. The Konohamaru corps, weary and wounded themselves from battle for their leader's sake, did what they could to make them comfortable. And then he leveled his furious blue eyes on the rest of the city.

"You are all evil monsters!" Naruto cried in a voice like a locomotive. More windows shattered. "You dare to raise your hands against what is mine! You have the gall to strike down what is kind and good, to take what should only be given in love! I will kill you all!"

The Anbu, mostly outside the ring of fire, darted around, trying to find a way in, to rescue the Hokage now hugged tightly to the demon's furry breast.

"Stop, Kit."

Naruto shook his mighty head, then looked down to where Kyuubi was clinging to his foreleg, slowly healing from his injuries. Diminished he might be, and his mantle of lordship passed to he who once was his prison, he was still a force to be reckoned with.

"They deserve to die!" Naruto growled, scuffling his claws in the blood soaked rubble of Konoha's northern market square.

"Yes," Kyuubi panted, blood still dripping from his closing wounds. "Many here deserve to die. And just as many deserve to live. And all of them were once yours. Do not travel down the path that I once took. Do not kill what was once your precious people."

"But Chichiue…" The great gold fox whimpered in confusion. "They _hurt _you and Sasuke!"

"And once upon a time, I hurt them… because they hurt me… And our Cub hurt you because he thought you hurt him. Do not continue this cycle of ignorance and violence and pointless retribution. Rise above them like you always have before. Be my… Naruto again."

"Dobe…"

Great blue eyes stared down at the young man that had finally roused, Sharingan still in a six pointed star in his eyes. Visible lines of chakra raced over his body as he began to heal himself.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's head lowered and a tongue bigger than Sasuke himself gently licked that body.

"Chichiue's right," Sasuke smiled into the massive sloppy fox kiss. "Vengeance is a bitter dish, that should never be served at all, much less hot or cold. You taught me that. Naruto… come back to me."

Soft voice rose from beneath his sheltering body. The chakra emanating from him, intent on protection, was doing its work. Shikamaru's eyes were open, open and looking up at him in recognition. Neji and Chouji were healing before his very eyes. They were all looking up at him, calling to him. Calling him home.

All his precious people.

The flames died out. And those townspeople still standing scattered to the wind, shrieking and wailing.

And Naruto closed his eyes, shining tears escaping, and lowered his head, and felt the warmth of so many arms around him. He was loved, and he was home.

Memories and events that had whirled so chaotically and painfully in his mind flew to little cubicles, and delicate rice papered doors shut them in. There they would rest, without tormenting him, until he would need them. And his mind and spirit calmed.

In a massive burst of smoke, Naruto was a man once more. He swayed on his feet, eyes glazed with exhaustion. Taller than ever, Naruto had finally caught up to himself. And his equally tall mate's arms were the first around him, steadying him, holding him close. And then they both were snuggled close to their Chichiue's body. Warm and close and safe. And home.

They slept.

Tsunade stared drearily around at the aftermath. The northern district would need enormous amounts of repairs before it would be livable again. A dozen villagers lay dead; the most violent of the mob. Somehow, she couldn't find it within herself to mourn them. They had turned evil so quickly, and had taken such delight in their wickedness. The healing chakra from Naruto had not extended to any of them, even though they had been in range.

"I'm too old for this…" She was utterly exhausted, not having slept or eaten or drunk a drop of sake in almost three days. She felt tired unto death.

" 'Nade…" Shizune whispered.

And Tsunade felt a warm strong hand on her other shoulder. Jiraiya.

Tears were leaking down her cheeks. Yes, she really was too old for this. Sobbing quietly, she allowed her two closest people to draw her in and comfort her.

When at last she quieted, Shizune turned her slightly to the right. "Look, 'Nade. He's here. He's home."

There was the boy, no, the man, she loved like family. A man with the body he'd been meant to have; strong and tall with only a little hint of androgyny. Long and tall, and naked as the day he was born. Curled up in the arms of his once rival, dressed in tattered bloody clothes, and nestled in the fur of the creature that had been the boogeyman of Konoha for so long.

Trust Naruto to pull off something like this.

She turned to Jiraiya. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to be a temporary Hokage until Naruto wakes up, would you?"

The look of unbridled horror on the male Sannin's face brought a smattering of laughter from everyone awake.

"Well… hell…" Tsunade muttered. There was no help for it. She would have to stay Hokage for a little while longer.

She took in a deep breath, and called her ANBU, who stood up from their workings of examining the dead and the damage. Watchful and wary of the still great red fox that lay amid the ruin of the square as if he owned it, slowly licking his kit and his cub clean. Bright red eyes watched them back just as warily.

"Gather the dead and take them to the morgue where they will be identified and catalogued." She instructed one captain. "Take the wounded to the hospital," she told another. "Get a crew to examine the buildings and make estimates for repair and replacement." A third was commanded. White masked ninja leapt away to do her bidding.

"You," She pointed at yet another. "Get me some goddamned sake."

But then Shizune pressed a cold bottle into her hand. "Just don't overdo it, Hokage-sama," she said with mock severity.

But Tsunade didn't drink it. She slipped it into her pocket and approached the unlikely trio.

As soon as she stepped too close, a soft warning growl burst from not only the great fox, which stopped its ministrations, but from the dark haired man now with his eyes open, inky stars in a field of blood red.

Tsunade was both repelled and fascinated by the strange, never before seen sharingan eyes before her. She stopped where she stood.

"Uchiha Sasuke," She began, drawing in a deep breath. "I think I am safe in assuming that where Naruto is, so too you will be?"

"Forever." Sasuke almost snapped.

"Then welcome home, Uchiha Sasuke. You will be welcome here as long as Naruto is." The words were bitter on her tongue. It was hard to speak these words, harder still to mean them. But she did both. For Naruto's sake.

"Thank you," Sasuke responded curtly. He wasn't overly fond of her either. He knew that if she had her way, he'd be in the deepest, darkest dungeon in Konoha. "And so I will be, as long as Naruto is." Privately, he hoped to coax his little gold fox back into the wilds, where they'd been so happy and free before.

Tsunade adjusted her stance slightly. "Kyuubi no Kitsune…"

"Let it go, Hokage of Konoha," Kyuubi began in a tired voice. "I do not need any welcome, any absolution from you or yours. Even if you were so inclined to extend it, which you are not. Where my kit and cub are, so am I. Deal with it. You may take joy in the knowledge that as long as no one tries to harm what is mine, I will be peaceful. That is all I will give you."

When Tsunade furiously opened her mouth to extend a blistering denial, Kyuubi went on in a colder voice. "Rest assured, Naruto _is _mine. I brought him back from death. I breathed life back into him again. And I gave him what was in me to make sure that neither this village nor any other, could never do to him what was done before. Swallow your self righteous pride with the realization that your village started all this. With Naruto, and with me."

They held angry glances for a very long time, and then Tsunade finally softened. "Very well. I cannot refute you. Stay, and be welcome, Kyuubi no Kitsune, as the father Naruto never had. I will be sure to make it so."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Sasuke suddenly spoke up wearily. "You saw what just happened. Did any of them listen to you? No. But don't worry, Kyuubi and I can protect our own just fine."

Thoroughly nettled by this blatant insubordination, she tossed her head. "Whatever," She sighed. "But I think someplace else is more appropriate for your quarters than here." She waved at the last few ANBU. "Prepare quarters for them. Make sure they are safe and the best that can be had."

"No need," Sasuke said grumpily. He was tired, and just wanted to curl up and sleep with his mate. "We'll just go to the Uzumaki compound."

"Uzumaki compound?" Konohamaru queried. "There is no such place!"

Moegi just sighed and shook her head. "He's talking about the old Uchiha district. Uchiha-san bequeathed it to Naruto-sama back in Sound. You were there. Don't you remember?"

"Oh, yeah, right," Konohamaru said sheepishly.

Moegi rolled her eyes. Honestly, sometimes he was as oblivious as Naruto. But God, she loved him even more for that.

Despite the fact that the old Uchiha district, now the Uzumaki compound had lain untouched and dusty for seven years, Kyuubi and Sasuke were adamant. There they would stay until Naruto woke, and no place else. Thankfully, the repairs Naruto had made on it before his abduction had been good and sound. It would make a fine temporary nest for them.

Despite his weariness, Sasuke formed the appropriate seals, and all three of them vanished.

Tsunade closed her eyes, and a second later, their chakra popped up exactly where they were supposed to be. She sighed, and opened her eyes. There was a lot of work ahead. Including hated paperwork. She sighed again. Time to get to work. But as she did, she smiled.

Naruto was home!


	18. Chapter 18

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 18

Sasuke was standing at the window of the master bedroom, staring out over the city. High enough to see over the district's tall walls, he watched the twinkling lights of Konoha, and ruminated over current events.

The whole of his life, from the day he first drew breath, to his bloody death at Kyuubi's claws and fangs, to his rebirth to today; all was crystal clear to him. Even things most people had long ago forgotten; the savory taste of peaches mashed up by his mother when he was finally old enough to eat more than breast milk; the mishap he suffered the first day he went without a diaper… everything.

To Sasuke's thinking, the span of a life, no matter how long or short, was filled with seasons of light and dark; the good times and the bad. His childhood as the youngest Uchiha had been light with patches of darkness. Sound had been the unmitigated pitch of the blackest night. The few days since then had been so bright that it was almost blinding to look back on. Bright enough to represent a slice of heaven.

Restlessly, he turned and padded naked and barefoot to the great bed in which lay his still sleeping mate. It had been over twelve hours, and Naruto had yet to wake. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he stared down at the man that meant more to him than his own life.

The heady innocence of the last few days was gone forever. Neither of them would ever be that wholesome, that innocent again. Because, things were different now.

Not only was his mate the dreaded Nine Tailed Demon Lord now, but, like Sasuke, he remembered every second of his lives. Naruto remembered his crushingly lonely and always hungry childhood, his uncomfortable adolescence, and the unparalleled hell of his life with Sasuke in Sound.

What was eight days of sweet love and tender passion compared to all that?

When he woke, when those unsurpassingly beautiful eyes opened once more, what would be in them when he looked at his mate, his Sasuke? Would Naruto still want to be his lover, his mate? Would the blonde still want him as his champion, his guardian? Would he want anything to do with him at all?

Sasuke had tasted fear and despair many times in his first illspent life. When his parents had died at Itachi's hands, the years he spent as Orochimaru's heir and plaything, the last days of Naruto's short and brutal life. Each epoch of his life had been terrible, unendurable, and each successive one had been worse and harder to bear. And now, here he was again. And this time, the idea that Naruto would wake, and could turn away from him brought him the greatest pain and sorrow conceivable.

He could sit and bemoan his fate, but he was, after all, an Uchiha. The last tarnished member of a clan that had once been the apple of Konoha's eyes. He had once been the apple of Konoha's eyes, the crown prince. Now, he was a traitor, a demon, a murderer. How the mighty have fallen. It filled him with bitterness.

For in the unimaginable possibility that Naruto would still love him, still want him, how could he stay? How could he remain at the blond lord's side, when he had a history of nothing but tainted arrogance and selfish egocentricity? Naruto had suffered because of it, time and again, until he had died of it.

But how could he leave? Naruto was everything to him; lover, mate, friend and lord. How could he turn away now? He owned the blonde everything, from the clothes on his back, to the air in his lungs, to the love that enabled him to continue living. How could he leave?

Whatever Naruto decided upon waking, Sasuke would abide. If the fox wanted him gone from his life, so he would go, but only far enough to give Naruto the peace he would require, never far enough away that he would not be on hand to guard him.

It was, after all, the only reason Kyuubi had brought him back; for Naruto.

And so, it was time for him to step aside, to break his own heart for the man that had done so for him time and again.

Already, he had made preparations for such. For how could Naruto be content with the status quo, now that he remembered everything? Years of torture and rape, mental and physical abuse. How could the blonde overlook that on top of everything else?

Kyuubi, naturally, told him he was a fool if he thought that, an idiot to even consider such a reaction from Naruto.

After all, whatever powers that be had made and meant Naruto and Sasuke for each other, and Kyuubi himself had strengthened that bond in his reformation of the pair. The great fox had simply made a few adjustments that an apparently all powerful entity had over looked.

Kyuubi was, of course, unabashedly pleased with himself for this.

A reluctant smile tugged on Sasuke's lips as he thought of this. Kyuubi, as diminished in power and ranking as he was, was still as egotistical as ever.

Carefully, Sasuke took a lax tanned hand in his own, and gently kissed each finger. He pressed that hand to his cheek, the prickle of tears at the back of his nose, and wondered for how much longer he would have the privilege of touching Naruto.

Fingers slowly tightened on his, and Sasuke looked over the hand to the face looking up at his, enormous blue eyes watching him silently.

The blonde made no move to rescue his hand, or speak. He simply gazed with unfathomable eyes into his own. And Sasuke's mind scrambled over itself in an attempt to read them. Stay or go? Kiss or release? Beg or apologize? Pack or make love? He was frozen with indecision.

And then, Naruto smiled, that blazing sincere smile, all tooth and flashing eyes.

"Idiot," he said softly.

Sasuke blinked, that being the very last thing he expected from Naruto's mouth.

"I would think," Naruto continued, that smile never faltering, "that you would have figured out by now that I never give up. I hunted you to the ends of the earth before, and I can do it again."

"Dobe…" he choked out, remorse and love in his voice.

"Yeah, but I'm your dobe."

"As I'm your teme," Sasuke's voice was shaky.

And then Naruto was in his arms, and they were both crying. Crying for all the pain and suffering and misunderstandings of the past, crying for the bigotry and cruelty in the world that would never pass, crying in gratitude that they had each other, and a love that would never fade or die.

Lips met and clung, fingers twined together, bodies pressed close. It was too heart wrenching for passion to rear its ever present head. Right now, it was a reaffirmation of all that they were to each other. Lovers. Friends. Mates. Companions. The be all and end all of each other's lives. They clung and squirmed and tickled and stroked. They kissed and licked and nibbled and bit. They explored each other's bodies, from the ends of their hair to the tips of their toes. They laughed and sighed, whispered and cried. And without penetration, without intercourse, they came together. Soft and gentle climaxes that wrung their hearts with sweetness. Lovemaking in its purest form.

Afterwards, they held each other tightly, breathing in sync, hearts beating as one.

"Told you, you were being stupid…" Kyuubi padded noiselessly into the bedroom. With a hop, skip and a jump, he joined them on the bed, snuggling down between them, paws and tongue working once more.

Though they were men now, his fox and his wolf instead of his kit and his cub, he was loath to let it all go; the comforting, the cleaning, all the things a fox did for his babies. It was too soon; he wasn't ready to let go of them just yet. Even if they were now ready to fly without him.

Kyuubi was sure his heart was breaking at the thought.

Naruto and Sasuke chuckled at his words, and allowed him his parental rights. They could no more conceive of a life without their Chichiue than he could of one without them. They were content with their lives as they were.

Sort of.

"So, Kit, what will you do now?" Kyuubi asked softly when all the licking and cooing was done.

Naruto furrowed his brow. "I don't know. It's good to be home again, but…"

"You can't see it as you once did," Kyuubi finished for him sagely. "They mean to make your their king. It's something you used to want so very much."

Sasuke remained silent. As much as he wanted to take his golden fox back into the woods and live as they used to, this was Naruto's choice. Later on he could argue or agree, once the blonde had voiced his decision.

"Hokage," Naruto mused. "You're right. It was once my most driven dream. Once. Even before I died, that had changed. And it's tempting, I'll admit. Very tempting."

There was a loud clattering deeper into the manor, and the faint sound of Sakura swearing a blue streak.

"The girls are here, cleaning up the place," Sasuke offered quietly. He hated all the coming and going. No one wanted him here, only Naruto. And Sasuke just wanted to be alone with his mate. His chichiue was an exception, of course.

Naruto's eyes lit up. The girls! Which meant the guys couldn't be far behind. Though he'd met most of them after his rebirth, he hadn't known them then. It was time to greet his most precious people once more.

"Really? Let's go see them!" He leapt from the bed, and galloped to the door.

"Uh, dobe?" Sasuke interrupted, amusement and chagrin threading through his voice.

"What? Come on, teme! It's been forever!" Naruto whined.

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke didn't bother mentioning that the people that wanted himself around were few and far between here. "But don't you think you should get dressed? I know you've kinda gotten used to gallivanting around naked lately, but still…"

"Oh, heheh, yeah." Sheepishly, Naruto scratched his head, and then dove into the armoire. To his surprise it was stuffed full of clothes that would fit both him and Sasuke.

"The humans are anxious to make a good impression on you now," Kyuubi said tranquilly, his paws crossed one over the other before him. "Things have been flowing in since we arrived. Foolish little humans," the fox continued in a grumble. "As if anything of that sort would make up for a lifetime of neglect." He ended with a haughty sniff.

Naruto was touched, both by Kyuubi's truthful sentiments, and the gestures from a city that once completely ignored him. Rooting around he gave a cry of happiness to find several glaringly orange garments.

"Tch…" Was all Sasuke said.

"But…" Naruto began mournfully, "the emblems are all wrong."

The clothes that fit Sasuke were emblazoned with the Uchiha fan, naturally, as those for him sported his trademark spiral.

"What's wrong with them?" Sasuke asked quietly. Somehow, the notion that Naruto might want to don the fan was rather unsettling. The Uchiha clan had been sliding into evil and corruption for some time, and it was not a fitting symbol for Naruto, whatever the pure blonde's status.

Naruto looked thoughtful, then a shining claw extended from his pointer finger, and he touched the back of the orange shirt.

Like ink bleeding through parchment, the seal that once lay on his belly grew quickly, the Uzumaki spiral a part of it naturally, then four uchiwas appeared in a cloverleaf pattern. Elaborate, elegant, and Naruto was immensely satisfied with it.

Naruto held it up. "What do you think, teme?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "Whatever, dobe."

And Sasuke too was satisfied. Mixing all three seemed somehow appropriate. After all, now Sasuke had a chance to redeem his family name. And he would do it with Naruto and Kyuubi at his side. It was fitting the three of them form a new clan, and new life.

Kyuubi nodded. He thought on how fine a man his kit was growing into. Kindness and compassion, naturally, something the boy had always possessed in abundance. But now, he was displaying wisdom, something the fox had once despaired of ever happening.

But Naruto was ever doing the unexpected, accomplishing the extraordinary. He made a most fitting heir indeed.

Kyuubi was pleased.


	19. Chapter 19

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 19

In the twelve hours that Naruto and Sasuke had been in residence in the new Uzumaki compound, the 'girls and guys' had been very busy indeed. Well, except for Shikamaru, who would rather die than lose his reputation for laziness. The others laughed good naturedly at this, and were content to let him sit and watch the clouds through the now sparkling clean windows, occasionally pointing out that this or that had been missed.

None of them had even poked a nose into the master bedroom since they had arrived. With a red fox the size of a great dane sprawled across the closed door, especially when that fox used to be Kyuubi no Kitsune, Demon Lord extraordinaire, no one dared. Occasionally Moegi, who was a brazen in her own way as Naruto, darted close, and dropped a great basket of food before scampering off as if her life depended on it.

Kyuubi was bored in this place. Bored and disappointed. This was not the life he intended for his kit and cub. Yet, here they were after all his efforts. Thus, he played his part accordingly. The downstairs was cleaned, as were the floors above the second, where the bedrooms lay, even the attics and basements. A dozen people could accomplish a great deal in half a day apparently. However, he would not allow them to clean this floor. When they arrived with cleaning tools, he growled and snarled, and pretended to leap with slavering jaws. And they scattered with cries of dismay. He settled back down before the door and snickered a long time. Yes, the great fox would take his little pleasures where he could find them.

And the two times Moegi had arrived with food, he'd taken a half hearted swipe in her direction. She'd responded beautifully, with fearful cries and leaping away. But at the head of the stairs, she would turn around and give him a wet raspberry before vanishing down them.

This vastly irritated Kyuubi. Obviously his reputation was failing if that little slip of a girl dared that. She should have been wetting her pants in terror. But then again, the times Naruto appeared in his own mind in front of his cage, that brazen little soul never quailed, never soiled himself. With a sniff, he decided he'd let this insubordination pass.

Thus, the last of the day had passed, and most of the night. And the humans stirred again, and began to make all sorts of rackets anew. Then his ears pricked up. There was a very different sort of stirring in the bedroom. He waited for a very long time, then got up and slipped passed the sliding door. His kit, his prince, was finally awake.

Sakura yawned mightily as she dragged herself from the warm nest of blankets on the couch. She would not leave this place until she'd seen Naruto himself. Though there were others like her, the Hokage had finally sent most of them home a couple of hours ago. The cleaning was done after all. Or rather, all the cleaning they were allowed to do.

Schlepping into the kitchen, she was surprised to see Iruka there. The chuunin had not slept since Kyuubi cast his spell on him in the little dell. He was waiting for Naruto too. Together in a companionable silence, they began to prepare breakfast.

"The Hokage is still here," Iruka said softly, as the last of the bacon was laid on paper to drain. "She says Naruto should awaken soon."

"She's monitoring his chakra, is she?" Sakura answered back with a pleased smile. Of course Tsunade would have all her attention bent towards Naruto. "It will be good if breakfast is still warm. I hope he wakes up soon!" Tears filmed her eyes.

Naruto was here, in Konoha, right now. Her heart ached at the terrible welcoming committee that had met him early yesterday evening. But he was here, at least, and hadn't run away. Her heart was awash in conflicting emotions.

Suddenly, Iruka's arms were around her, stroking her back comforting as he leaned his brow against hers, his own eyes blurred with tears. He understood her state of mind perfectly.

Joy and grief. Naruto was alive, alive and unharmed, despite the events of yesterday. But he remembered everything. Every sordid little detail. Would he wake and still be Naruto? Would he wake at all? Sakura remembered the tearing pain when she looked into his eyes just before he died. Would Naruto want to be alive again? He hadn't then.

Hope and despair. Naruto was here and he could be Hokage if he wanted, but would he stay? After all that had happened yesterday, all that happened in Sound, all that had happened in Konoha… how could he want to?

And finally, acceptance settled wearily upon them. What would be, would be. They were just grateful to have him here, now. They would have to hope for the best.

Meanwhile, in the darkened formal living room, Tsunade had scooted a comfortable chair to where she could watch the gardens. It was still dark, but streaks of glorious pink and purple, and hints of gold and silver peeped against the underbelly of the thin clouds that streamed silently across the dawning sky.

She'd planned to spend the past twelve hours in intense industry, but Shizune had double-crossed her, the brat. The sake she'd given her mistress had been laced with a sleeping potion. Ten hours later, Tsunade had woken in her bedroom, feeling like lead, and had been furious.

But then all the thoughts and doubts and what ifs had assaulted her mind, and she'd been driven from her home, to here. To where Naruto, and the future lay. And so here she was, in the old Uchiha districts restored living room, staring at the waking world, and trembling softly.

When Naruto had changed, had towered over the village, had begun to kill, she'd stared up into his blue eyes, and _knew._ This was no Kyuubi-overcome boy. This was Naruto through and through. This was Naruto, the Nine Tailed Demon.

Things had moved too quickly for much rational thought then. It was quickly and mercifully over, thanks astonishingly enough, to Kyuubi himself. He'd called Naruto back from the bloodlust of vengeance. He and Sasuke.

What irony… the dreaded demon and the traitor, saving Konoha from its own light turned to darkness. It made Tsunade want to weep at the perversions of fate.

But now, once more awake and in possession of a calm and somewhat untouched city, she'd come to think of something else.

What if Kyuubi and Sasuke hadn't called him back? What if they had, and Naruto hadn't listened? It was twenty two years ago, all over again. And this time, it would have been Tsunade calling on Shingami, and dying to save this wretched place that didn't deserve such a sacrifice. It would have been her sealing, not Kyuubi, but Naruto, into the belly of yet another innocent life that would be ruined forever. And the cycle would begin anew.

The first time she thought of it, an hour ago in her own home, she'd become violently ill, heaving up the contents of a long empty stomach. She'd retched and sobbed all at once at the horror of what could have been. But thinking of it now, she was a little more in possession of herself. It hadn't happened. She was still alive, as was Naruto. And Naruto was sleeping in a bed just above her head.

It hadn't happened. It hadn't happened.

Tsunade leaned forward and buried her face in her hands to stem another weeping fit. But as she sat there silently and rocked to and fro, she remembered even earlier yesterday. Standing yet again before her storm broken windows, and had seen those impossibly blue eyes staring at her from a far distance, from the top of a tree not far from Konoha proper.

She'd almost fell out of her window when he turned away and climbed back down, as she'd leapt forward. Only Shizune's quick reactions had saved her from plunging head first out her window.

Naruto was Konoha's light, Konoha's miracle. He could get through all this. He wasn't alone, he was surrounded by those who loved him. Surely he remembered that in yesterday's deluge of memories. He had to. He just had to. She rocked a little harder, to keep form thinking of what would be if he didn't.

She was so lost in her apprehension and misery, that she heard the padding of bare feet moving towards her, and dully thought of Sakura. She should eat. She surely should. It had been three full days now. Yet she wasn't hungry. But she smelled bacon, eggs and potatoes. She should eat, even if nausea was still rampant through her body at all the what ifs. She really should eat, she should…

"Baa-chan."

Tsunade almost swallowed her tongue as she whirled around, almost falling out of her chair. Only one person dared to call her that.

And there he stood, dressed in a beautifully ridiculous orange shirt and black pants. He smiled hesitantly at her. "Hi…"

"Naruto! Baka!" And she drug him into her arms, smothering him in her monstrous bosom, almost crushing him in her relief and joy.

Kyuubi tensed and made to jump forward and rescue his kit, but Sasuke laid a calming hand on his bristling neck. "He's fine."

And Tsunade was sobbing noisily, scolding him, welcoming him, loving him so much.

Naruto finally clawed his way out of pillowy flesh and choked and wheezed. Then he settled down to lie on the floor with his Hokage, his Baa-chan and let her cry and bitch and moan and laugh and pet his hair with trembling hands. Tears were leaking from his closed eyes. God, he'd missed her so much!

Sakura stood in the doorway from the dining room, hands clenched below her chin, eyes wet and leaking, as she sniffled softly. Iruka was frozen beside her for an instant, then he was scrambling over to fall heavily to his knees beside them.

When hands tried to take her precious Naruto away, Tsunade almost lashed out with all her horrific strength, until she saw who it was. If Tsunade felt like his mother, Iruka felt like his father. She let him go reluctantly.

And once again Naruto was crushed in someone's arms. Iruka was crying now too, quietly but no less wrenching.

"Naruto… my god. Naruto…" And Naruto let himself be held in those strong and hard arms, against that strong and flat chest, and be stroked and nuzzled.

"Iruka-sensei," he whispered, stricken and floored. He was the Ninetails now! The force that killed Iruka's parents so long ago, now resided directly in him. There was no Kyuubi to cushion that blow now. No, it was all in him.

Iruka had to know that, but he obviously didn't care. Because he was hugging Naruto so tightly, and crying and landing sloppy paternal kisses in his golden hair.

And then it was Sakura's turn to take, and Iruka's to give, and Naruto was smothered anew. This time the arms were hard and strong, the chest firm but not flat, and once more, he couldn't breathe.

"Don't you ever die on me again, baka," the kunoichi was moaning. "Don't you ever do that again. I'll kill you myself. Please, Naruto, please, don't do that again."

Fingers tangled in pink locks, more kisses were bestowed, and then finally, Naruto struggled free, panting, teary eyed, and suddenly exhausted from the emotional storm that had swept this once so long empty chamber.

And Sasuke stood there, and watched all the love flowing over his dobe, and was both happy for Naruto, and excessively jealous. And, if truth be known, a little envious. Oh, he did not begrudge his Naruto one jot of the love and tearful affection now being lavished on the blonde. But once, such would have been lavished on him. It hurt to know he wasn't welcomed by his mate's family. The family that could have been his had he been less arrogant, less selfish, less destructive.

And Naruto turned in the circle of his precious people, and was not content. He held out his hand to his mate. "Sasuke… teme… koi…" he said softly.

The others stiffened. But Naruto only smiled brighter. "He's my mate. He's my other half. He's my reason for being. He is part of me."

And they understood. They might not like it, but they did understand.

Under the compulsion of those sky blue eyes, Sasuke stumbled forward, and was drawn into the tangle of bodies. Drawn in and held tight by the only one he really cared about.

The others were stiff and awkward at first, but then the love and contentment radiating from Naruto began to permeate them all, and they relaxed against the Uchiha as well, and the five of them sat there, holding each other, weeping softly, and feeling hearts knit and mend at long last. They had finally, at long last, come home.

Kyuubi gave bored yawn and settled down to wait. Well, he'd made the choice once to allow someone his kit needed to be happy. He could do it again. He would let them live. This time, anyway. But god help any human that dared to hurt or wound his princes. He was still Kyuubi, still a demon. He would just have to work a little harder to maintain his vicious reputation.

He looked forward to it.


	20. Chapter 20

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 20

Naruto stepped off the wrap around porch that girdled the main Uchiha house, and then padded barefoot down the flagstones of the walk to the road that wound through the district. He went first, followed by Sasuke and Kyuubi, and then Sakura, Iruka and Tsunade.

On the porch, he met Lee, dancing about anxiously. Sakura had left for her mission to Sound almost two weeks ago. When she'd returned, she was changed, and he'd been horrified to hear the report of her brief lapse into madness. But there'd been no time for him to hold her, touch her, comfort her, and reassure himself that his Cherry Blossom was alright. Things had been utterly chaotic since she'd returned. But she was here now, and the unease he'd sensed running so deep within her, had been healed.

He was grateful.

And obviously, it was because of this blue eyed, blonde haired demi god. Lee didn't know how to approach him anymore. He wasn't 'just Naruto' anymore. He was… The demon lord. The future Hokage.

And Naruto paused, and smiled into his eyes, those cerulean ones twinkling as brightly and mischievously as ever before. Then he cuffed the taijutsu master on the shoulder, making Lee stagger back slightly.

And a blazing smile to rival any of Naruto's burst from his face.

"Yosh! The power of Youth overcomes all!" And he wept, sunbursts and ocean waves splashing around him.

Naruto laughed, feeling a lot of the awkwardness he was experiencing flow away. At least Lee was still unchanged towards him.

On the stones leading to the lane, he met up with Neji and Shikamaru. The latter was leaning up against the garden wall, and staring up at the clouds.

But Naruto was undeceived. He could see the quick and anxious glances the shadow user kept flicking his way. And Naruto knew it was simply to be sure he was still there, not that he would suddenly burst into some bloodlusting rampage.

Neji, of course, simply nodded, the briefest of smiles lurking in his eyes. "Welcome home, Naruto-sama," he said softly.

The two men clasped wrists firmly. A greeting of friends. And Naruto felt even more at ease.

Upon walking down the meandering lane to the gates, where the Uchiha fan had been removed and replaced with a wrought iron Uzumaki spiral, the Konohamaru corps were lurking. Instead of sneak attacking Naruto as he would have in the past, Konohamaru simply stood up straighter, bit his lip, and watched his leader, his precious person approach.

"Konohamaru," Naruto said softly, holding out his arms. "I'm home, ne?"

And then Konohamaru leapt into his arms so hard they staggered back a step.

"Naruto-niisan!" The younger boy's choked voice was muffled against Naruto's now taller chest.

They gripped each other tightly for several long and silent minutes, until Naruto winked at Moegi and Udon over the other boy's head. And then all three of them were hugging Naruto, crying and laughing and promising loyalty.

And when Naruto walked under the great gates, he threw up his hand, and the metal scree'd and twisted, and what had been just a spiral had turned into the symbol now emblazoned on the backs of both Naruto's and Sasuke's shirts.

Naruto simply smirked equal to any Uchiha at the surprised murmurs that greeted this little display of skill and power. One that Sasuke returned with equal amusement. And Kyuubi's head and tails were held a little higher.

Take that, mortals!

The slow walk to the center of town swelled as people joined the group. Chouji and Ino. Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai. Kurenai and Shino. Ten Ten, Kiba and Akamaru. All his friends and precious people. They all wanted to touch him, reassure themselves this was real, he was really here. And he stopped for each one of them, and gave them the reassurances they craved.

Truth be told, though Naruto appeared to handle it all with almost regal aplomb, he was trembling inside. He'd so sought recognition from this place, these people, and they were giving to him in spades. And the memory of remeeting most of them in the grove after his resurrection, he knew it was all for him. Just for Naruto. It was a recognition they'd given him then, a silent swearing of loyalty offered even before he'd ever displayed his new and fearsome powers.

Naruto was close to crying in triumph, in gratitude, in blessing.

And then, he quickened his steps; from habit, from realization of exactly where he was, from the savory scent of raaaaaamen!

Right there, right around the corner, and ta da! There it was… His temple…

Ichiraku's!

And a smiling Hinata and Gaara waited for him there, holding back the paper flaps, revealing Teuchi and Ayama, smiling fit to kill, kettles and kettles of steaming, piping hot, and utterly delicious ramen. Waiting for him.

Giving a whooping cry of hungry joy, Naruto bolted the last few steps, gave fly by, but no less heartfelt hugs to Gaara and Hinata, before taking his customary seat at the bar.

The couple's heart dropped to feel that strong and tall and vibrant body pressed so closely yet so briefly against theirs, and blushed to the tips of their toes. Everyone knew now what lay between husband and wife.

Kankuro was no where in evidence, having in fact returned the day before to Suna to report to his Kazekage, Tamari.

Ayame gave another caroling greeting, and thumped the biggest bowl of ramen ever seen before the blonde. "Welcome home, Naruto-kun!"

"Itakimasu!" Naruto cried joyously, broke apart his chopsticks, and proceeded to devour the luscious food even before the rest could seat themselves. The bar was soon filled to the limit, and tables and chairs brought out as bowls were passed to everyone in celebration. Tsunade begged off, mention she had to get back to work. And though most of them would have normally cringed at the idea of ramen just past dawn, today was special, and each and every one of them toasted the meal, their guest of honor, and Konoha before digging in with gusto.

Well, everyone save Kyuubi. Ayame had shrunk back, but then darted forward and placed a bowl on the counter between Naruto and Sasuke, where the fox was, and bolted back.

Kyuubi wrinkled his nose, stared around at the convivial atmosphere, gave a furry shrug, and then dove in like his kit. Three gulps later, he reared back, gagging.

"This is vile!" He almost shrieked. "How can you stand to eat this swill!"

Narutally, Teuchi and Ayame took offense to this, and both sniffed in tandem. And just as naturally, they said and did nothing. It was Kyuubi after all.

But the others stopped and watched with round eyes, chopsticks half to mouth in frozen dread.

Naruto, who only paused briefly in his gorge, simply snorted. "You are an uncivilized, uncouth forest creature. Of course you are incapable of appreciating the subtleties that is ramen." And on the heels of this lofty and cerebral speech, he promptly shoveled more in.

"Uncivilized? Uncouth? _Forest creature??" _Kyuubi yelped in indignant affront. "Incapable of appreciating subtleties? I'll show you, you unlicked kit of dubious taste!" And he proceeded to devour the bowl of ramen equal to any gluttonous display Naruto could possibly exhibit. "Just you wait, you brat. How'd you like to be put on a diet of raw meat again!"

At this, both Naruto and Sasuke shuddered in remembrance, and the fox smirked, and kicked his bowl back over the counter before sauntering away to wait for the impromptu feast to end.

The others were still frozen, chopsticks still half way to mouths. A noodle fell off Sakura's to make a tiny splash in her bowl. Then suddenly they were all laughing. It was a contagious moment, and everyone joined in, even if they weren't really sure why.

It was almost an hour before everyone was done, and the bowls were piled high on the counter, and Teuchi refused money from anyone.

"On the house today, but tomorrow…"

And everyone laughed again at the sly smile on the old man's face.

It was a much more relaxed and boisterous group that continued the walk to the Hokage's tower.

But the atmosphere changed once more, as they rounded the last corner and found themselves in the brick paved courtyard of said tower. All the laughter and jests stopped abruptly.

There, on the steps, stood Tsunade, dressed in formal Hokage robes, Shizune in Jounin attire behind her. And creating a path towards them and the stairs, were two stiffly attentive rows of white masked ANBU. Behind them were ranks of Jounin and Chuunin.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Tsunade said in her calm yet powerful voice. "Welcome home."

And to Naruto's shock, she leant forward slightly, head slightly bowed, hand at her chest, a greeting from one kage to another.

There was a rustle, and every ninja waiting gave the same stance Kakashi had given, back in the glade; hand to chest, heads bowed, one foot slightly behind the other. And the ANBU snapped their heels together, crossed their fists across their breasts and bowed their heads.

Naruto was stunned, rooted to the spot, until Sakura gave him a gentle push forward. He stumbled forward, turning slowly to stare at all the ninja and elite, giving him royal recognition, and then, completing his turn, found everyone that had been with him on his journey from the compound had all followed suit once more; each and every one of them offering his or her clan allegiance.

As if in a daze, Naruto took several steps forward, until he halted, unable to take the final steps up the stairs.

Sasuke tossed his head, and moved forward to stand beside Naruto.

"Well, dobe, looks like you've finally achieved your dream." And with a small smile, he dropped gracefully to his knee, and offered the Uchiha salute to his leader.

Kyuubi, purring in triumph, wound himself around Naruto's hips like an affectionate cat, and then sat bolt upright beside him, tails curled around his paws.

"Behold, mortals, the Demon Lord, Naruto Uzumaki."


	21. Chapter 21

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 21

Naruto stood by the banks of the windows in the Hokage's office, several still without glass, and laid a trembling hand on the broad sill. Dilated eyes roamed over the city below. Over the buildings and roofs, a few citizens moving about now that the morning was advancing.

This is my city now; these are my people…

It was too much to take in. Too much change in too little time. In the short span of twenty two years, he'd gone from a lonely starving child, to a shunned and ignored youth, to an enslaved and tormented young man, abuse marking each and every year of his life until then. Then he'd had a bright and brief week of a literal second childhood filled with golden innocence, passion and freedom. Now he stood here, a young man once more, surrounded by love and acceptance and acknowledgement, proclaimed both demon lord and Hokage by all his friends and peers. The power of the Ninetails danced within him; he could feel it every waking minute now. He had only to reach out, and it was there.

"You know, Kyuubi, your little announcement there was a bit over the top," Sasuke remarked to their Chichiue in a dry voice.

Kyuubi merely hn'd equal to any Sasuke could give, and said nothing. He was lying sprawled out on Tsunade's desk, having shoved everything off to accommodate his bulk, and was leisurely grooming himself.

Sasuke watched the fox, a smile tugging on his lips. He knew why Kyuubi had done it. Neither he nor the ex demon lord really wanted to be here. Neither of them wanted Naruto put in this position. They wanted to be back out in the woods with their kit, wild and free once more.

Already, Naruto was different, standing stiff and still before the windows. Where was Sasuke's impulsive and spontaneous lover, playmate, and friend?

"I wish they would hurry up with the preliminaries," Naruto spoke suddenly from the windows. He was speaking of Tsunade and the council, now closeted away two doors down to discuss Naruto's sudden rise in rank.

Sasuke was behind him in the blink of an eye, wrapping his arms around that slender waist. He buried his face in the warm sweet scented crook of the blonde's neck, bestowing a soft lingering kiss.

Naruto sighed and shivered, tilting his head slightly to allow better access. What would he do without his wolf? It didn't bear thinking about.

"Don't worry, dobe," Sasuke whispered softly. "It will be fine. You are just about Hokage already. You now have everything you ever wanted."

"But it's not…" Naruto began, hitching a breath.

The door opened slowly, and Shizune stood there. "The council is ready for you, Naruto-sama," She said softly, smiling.

Naruto straightened up and stepped out of the circle of Sasuke's arms. "Finally."

Taking his mate's hand, he moved to the door. "You coming?" He asked Kyuubi.

Kyuubi paused in the act of digging between his toes. "No. The temptation to eat one of them would be too great." He wrinkled his nose. "Go, my kit. You are more than ready for this."

Naruto gave him a tremulous smile, and moved out the door, pausing only to give Shizune a level stare.

"What?" She asked, seeing the gaze, almost a glare.

"We need to talk later," Naruto said, waving a finger betwixt himself and the kunoichi. "About this Naruto-sama crap. Don't you start with me. I'll take that shit from the council, but not from you."

Shizune gurgled with laughter. "Okay, Naruto-kun. Point taken."

"Good," he smiled, relieved, and then allowed Sasuke to tug him out the door and down the hall.

A few, too short steps down, and there were the double doors of the council room, guarded by two white masked ANBU. They saluted Naruto, and stepped aside.

Sasuke let go. "You'll be fine, Naruto," he reassured softly, kissing that whiskered cheek. "Go knock 'em dead… eh… figuratively."

Sasuke was as shaken internally as his lover. It was so hard to step down from the ascendancy the thought had been his due, and watch it happen to someone else. Not that he begrudged Naruto one iota, nor did he want to be Hokage himself. He'd always known, deep down inside, that he was too egocentric, too selfish to put himself in such a position. And he knew he was still too selfish to become the villages wise man and negotiator. As that is what a kage really was. He wanted what he wanted, and he would do whatever it took to get it. And as much as he loved Naruto with every beat of his heart and every fiber of his being, it was a touch surreal to watch it happen to him. And it made him nervous. What if Naruto wouldn't need him anymore? He'd grown so much. He truly was a kage already, in his deep and endlessly giving heart. He would make a magnificent Hokage. And Sasuke felt he was being left behind somehow. That someday he would find himself walking back into the wilds where he now felt he belonged, and would do it alone.

Naruto snorted, then grabbed his hand back. "Where the hell do you think you're going? Do you think I would go anywhere at all, least of all to somewhere so important, without my other half? I think not!"

And right there, before the ANBU standing ready to let him pass, Naruto lifted his head and kissed Sasuke, right on the lips. Warm and moist, quickly turning hot and wet. Sasuke gripped the hand tighter, and sank fingers in spun gold, feeling Naruto's hand land possessively upon his hip. The kiss ended damply, lips parting with a soft smacking noise.

"We belong together, teme… forever…"

And Sasuke was reassured by his dobe, his heart made whole once more.

With a cheeky grin, Naruto pushed the doors open, and they walked in together.

It was rather gloomy after the bright sunshine flooding the hall. Lit by sconces and lamps, there was a long, seemingly endless table that curved along the far wall, and the council members were seated behind it, slightly elevated by an equally long and curving dais. In the very center of this table, members to the left and right, sat Tsunade in her Hokage's chair. To one side of the circular space left behind in the middle of the room was a chair enclosed in railings, next to which stood a large desk. It looked disturbingly like a courtroom, because that was also a function of the council.

But Naruto would not be sitting in that defendant's chair. No, to the other side stood an ANBU, sporting a white fox mask. The ANBU was turned to face them, one hand slightly held out in welcome.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Tsunade intoned officially, "come forward, please."

Drawing in a deep breath, Naruto moved deeper into the room, Sasuke following right behind him.

"What's he doing here?" On member, a fat and florid man that Naruto had always detested. This council member had often tormented him verbally, both before and after he rose to his current position in the council.

A pudgy finger stabbed in Sasuke's direction, to Naruto's unspoken surprise. "He's a traitor, a demon. He should be in prison!"

And Naruto felt bloodlust rising within him at just this slight provocation. He shoved it down.

"Watch what you say, fat boy," he snarled, allowing the merest hint of fox ears to show among his glossy golden locks. "There is some uncertainty as to just who exactly should be in prison. And be careful as to exactly who you accuse of being a demon!"

There was a moment of frozen silence. Though most of the council had not been present at the riot yesterday, a few had, and a couple had even partaken, such as the fat idiot before Naruto now.

No one currently in the room now knew this, of course. Kyuubi had noticed. Much more used to wielding demon powers, he'd scented the council members, taken note. And he'd seen that fat red face breathing its stinking breath into his own as the man had shoved a kunai into his side when he was tied down with the chakra ropes. It was but one reason he'd refused to attend this meeting. Not only did Naruto and Sasuke not need him in that capacity, as he'd so claimed, but he knew… one look, and snap… there'd be one less fat council member in the room. And that council, they'd allowed the neglect, the abuse and torment of the young Naruto to continue unchecked. Yep, several quick snaps, and he'd be full. And as much as he'd love to dine on council members, greasy and stringy as they might be, he knew Naruto wouldn't like it.

Naruto looked around the room, his normally warm blue eyes steely. "Uchiha Sasuke is my mate, my guardian. If you have a problem with that, too bad."

"Mate?!" Another council member almost yelped. This particular man had always been on the Uchiha's side, and had pushed through the years to keep Sasuke as being labeled a missing nin, had pushed to keep his Uchiha heir status alive even as the man was known as the Otokage of Sound. He'd been the last council hold out, and had argued vociferously when presented with Sasuke's will the day before yesterday, bequeathing all his worldly goods to Naruto. Sasuke was an Uchiha, and he was back. The council member was hot under the collar for the young man to do the Uchihan thing. "He can't be your mate!" the fool, good intended as he was, went on. "He must find a suitable woman, marry, and continue the Uchiha line and legacy!"

This enraged Sasuke even more than the threat of prison had enraged Naruto. He stepped forward, allowing his eyes to bleed red, to let them move from one sharingan stage to another, finally ending in the new, rather alarming looking six pointed stars. "Do you know what these eyes can do?"

The council member swallowed nervously. "O..of course we do. We are the council, and naturally not only do we know about the mangekyou sharingan, we know you have to kill the one you love most to aquire it." He gave a rather pointed look at Naruto.

This froze both Naruto and Sasuke for a moment. Sasuke had never attained the Mangekyou. Even to the last days in Sound, he'd not had it. He couldn't gain it, because no matter how evil he'd become to Naruto, he couldn't kill him. Yet, just now, letting the tomoes whirl and shift, merge and change, he'd shown that particular sharingan just before he'd moved to his now ultimate one, the Guardian's Star.

Sasuke looked in dawning horror at Naruto. When the pillar meant for him had crushed and killed the blonde, he'd finally aquired that accursed ability. Naturally, he'd not known it at the time, and he himself had died very shortly thereafter. And likewise, he'd used it on Shikamaru in the grove a couple of days ago, and hadn't even realized what he was doing, even if Kakashi had.

And it rushed into his mind once more… _He'd killed Naruto!_

Naruto just smiled, danced the few steps towards him, and gently cupped his stricken face. "Teme," he whispered. "Let it go. I love you." And laid the sweetest, softest kiss against those trembling lips.

"Stop that!" The council man squawked. "Didn't you hear me? He must continue the line, not be perverted by the likes of you!"

And Sasuke lost his head. Gently thrusting Naruto out of the way, he let the stars bleed away into the webbed triangle of the Mangekyou. "You want this bloodline so badly? Then you shall have it!" And stared deep into the tall man's wide opened eyes.

And for a moment, a split second of eternity, the man experienced the deepest layers of hell. But then, Naruto stepped in the way, his blue eyes trained on those deadly ones, and looked fully into the nightmare that was the Uchiha's once ultimate power, and was unmoved.

"Come back to me, Sasuke," he whispered softly.

The moment Sasuke realized he was looking into Naruto's eyes, his own snapped into coal black once more. But it did not miss him that Naruto had looked into the Mangekyou, and had not been affected. He gave his blonde mate a sheepish smile. "Always, koi."

The member had fallen into his chair, gasping and choking, wanting to scream and cry. Thankfully, Naruto had interrupted before too much mental damage had been done.

Once more, Sasuke stepped purposely forward and leveled a cold glare at each and every one of them, even Tsunade, who'd remained in her chair, unmoving and unfazed by the out bursts.

"These eyes, cursed as they are, are mine, and mine alone. They do not belong to any one of you. As for the Uchiha line, I will continue it, or not, as I see fit. You will not dictate to me who I will love, or who I share my bed with. This man," One slender finger jabbed lovingly at Naruto. "Is my choice. I have given him my heart, my body, my love and passion. And he has given me his back in exchange. That is the way it is, the way it will ever be. Do not think otherwise."

Another council member opened her mouth, and Sasuke forestalled her. "No, do not even begin with me about concubines or surrogate mothers. I am not convinced the Uchiha line should even be allowed to continue. I have used my lineage to do terrible things, as has my brother, Itachi. I do not know how much you know about my father or my father's father, nor do I care. The Uchiha line long ago slid into infamy, and now into ignominy. I do not care to even entertain the notion of continuing it at all."

The woman closed her mouth, but looked stubborn. And the subject was closed, just like that. At least only for now, if the female member had her way.

There was a noticeable lack of reaction from the other heads of Shinobi clans, such as the Akimichi, Aburame, Nara, Yamanaka, and Sandaime. All the heads of the clans beloved by Naruto remained silent and still throughout it all.

But one finally spoke up… Hyuuga.


	22. Chapter 22

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 22

Hyuuga Hiashi was power hungry, it was true. That he wanted what he wanted was also true. But deep inside this cold and overly restrained man was a very large kernel of wisdom. And before him now, stood so much power, now realized, that he caught his breath.

He'd been aware of Naruto Uzumaki from the beginning. Knew the boy's lineage and potential from the cradle. He'd never indulged in the little cruel and sadistic games so many other villagers had. When Hinata began her life long crush over the blonde boy, Hiashi did nothing to inhibit it. Even when the little fox child was playing alone in the dirt, he knew the day would come when the boy would grow up. And he could wed the boy to his own daughter, and have all that delicious but unrealized power at his command.

But things didn't turn out his way. War interrupted, and Sasuke Uchiha, cursed relative, stepped in and took it all away. When Sabaku no Gaara came into the picture, he let his oldest daughter, weak link he thought her, to go to the other man. Naruto was gone, never to return. He turned his attentions to Hanabi, and Neji.

Neji had never forgotten the murder of his father, never forgotten and never forgiven. When Hiashi looked into the boy's cold and hate filled eyes, he'd seen a ghost of Itachi within them, and grew chilled. What had happened to the Uchihas… _could happen to them_! So he welded the boy to his side by engaging him to his youngest daughter.

But now, things had changed. Naruto was back. Back and but a step away from becoming Hokage. Obviously, with the dark Uchiha beside him and in his bed, the blonde would never wed a Hyuuga. But the Uchihas were distant relatives…

The time was at hand to make Naruto look at him. Really look at him. And time to make the blonde boy, now all grown up and filled to the brim with scintillating and very much realized power, beholden to him. It was time to give up a particular Hyuuga habit, especially now that it had become common knowledge and public sentiment was so against it.

Yes, time to make Uzumaki Naruto really notice him. And gratitude, especially from someone like Naruto, went a very long way…

When the Hyuuga stood up in the meeting, and all eyes turned his way, he smiled inside. Showtime.

"Welcome home, Uzumaki Naruto," he said smoothly.

Silence greeted his sentiment, but Naruto did smile faintly. The other council members watched him, obviously expecting some sort of denial, or negation to the blonde's ascendancy to come from him, but they couldn't be more wrong.

He bowed his head, fist to chest, and proceeded to give the boy not only the clan's symbolic loyalty, but his own as well. Times were changing, and he was not going to be left behind.

Scattered gasps greeted this. But Hiashi noted the resistance in the blonde's eyes. So the boy wasn't all primed to accept this invitation to be the village's highest seat of power, eh? Well, having learned what he had of the boy, he wasn't surprised. All the loud obnoxious bravado of the boy had been tempered into a fine steel. Well and good. Perhaps this would make Naruto less malleable than if he was still the brash outspoken child warrior, but Hiashi would make do.

"I have a gift for you, Naruto," he went on in the shocked hush, his voice soft. "To welcome home our lost light, our new Hokage…"

At a gesture, the great doors opened once more, and Hyuugas filed in, led by Neji himself. One after another after another, and took up ranks before the council, all of them standing shoulder to shoulder. And it escaped no one's notice that they were all, to the last man of them, branch members.

He nodded to Neji, who now looked at his uncle with softer eyes.

Neji reached up, hands untying his headband, and the white fabric below it. There was a rising rustle, as every last branch member did likewise.

And every brow, from the tallest to the smallest, from the strongest to the weakest, from Neji to the child that had been branded less than a month before…

Every brow was smooth, unmarked. The poisonously green symbol that had stained Neji's, indeed, every branch member's brow from the time they were small… was gone.

It was a sore loss to Hiashi, but, now that everyone knew their dirty little secret, and made no bones about letting the Hyuuga know how poorly they thought it, it was time to let it go.

And little did Hiashi realize when he made the decision, just yesterday, how much it would soften Neji's feelings for him, he was satisfied. Times were changing, and the blonde boy before him would change them even more. By this act, as great a sacrifice of power as it was, he was allying himself with the new demon lord. And the potential of so much more power.

Hyuuga Hiashi was a gambler at heart. With a small gesture, the branch members filed out as silently and quickly as they had filed in.

"Welcome home, Uzumaki Naruto," he repeated once more.

Naruto was stunned. Well he remembered his promise to change this one thing in the Hyuuga clan so long ago. And he had meant it, down to his toes. But in the blood and pain and chaos of the last seven years, it had slipped from his mind, as forgotten as everything else in his memory had been. Since his rebirth, he hadn't even remembered Neji, much less his promise. But he remembered now, and looking deeply into Hiashi's eyes with his wiser, more mature eyes, he was undeceived.

The Hyuuga clan leader had not done this out of any sense of repatriation, or softening of heart or will towards his own 'lesser' kinsmen. No, he'd done it to impress Naruto. After all, the younger Uzumaki had never made any bones, publicly or privately, as to how heinous an act such 'enslavement' was. And in view of the last seven years of his life, he was unlikely to hold a kinder thought to it. No. Hiashi Hyuuga knew that change was rife on the wind, and sought to keep, nay, advance his position within what was surely to be the new Konohan hierarchy.

Well and good. Naruto had his measure, both then and now. And he could work with such a man.

"Thank you, Hyuuga Hiashi," he responded with a firm voice. The two men regarded each other stolidly for another moment, both measuring the other. Then Naruto turned away, and let his eyes move from one council member to another.

"So," he resumed slowly, his eyes unreadable. "How things have changed. I know you have all voted, and I think I know the way of it now. But I must tell you, I am no longer eager to assume the mantle of Hokage now. I have changed so much."

Though his eyes appeared locked on Tsunade, in reality he was absorbing the unspoken reactions from each and every one of them. Several seemed to brighten at his apparent rejection of such a promotion. Others almost visibly drooped. Still others maintained a stoic and impassive demeanor.

"Do any of you realize what it is that you offer? Do you have any idea what I am now? I'm not your reviled demon boy, anymore. I'm not the unfortunate container for your greatest fears and ambitions. I _am _the Nine Tailed Demon now. I was ready to level this city to the very stone foundations just yesterday. And I could feel such an urge again." Naruto was unsmiling.

One might think it rather unintelligent to lay such a thing at the feet of those that had the power to accept or reject him. Slowly, he held each man and woman's eyes, daring them to accept him now, when he finally really was what they had punished him so unfairly for before.

When none spoke up to reject him, he was understandably bemused. "I find it complete weirdness that you were so cruel to me when I was only the container, and yet you accept me so willingly now that I really am the demon."

More restless silence.

"Or is it that you're all afraid of me? Now that I have the power, and the will, to defend myself against your bigotry." He snorted, unimpressed. "Rest assured. I don't care. I don't need anyone to assure me of my own worth. I don't need to be your hokage to know who and what I am. Not anymore." He turned slightly, to smile at the only one who's opinion really mattered to him now. The others, even folk like Tsunade and Sakura, who once meant so much to him, and still did, did not carry the weight that Sasuke always had and always would.

Sasuke smiled back, easily, freely, demonstrating how much he too had changed.

"Don't be afraid of me," Naruto turned back. "I will not lay waste to you or yours if I don't become Hokage. I'm quite happy with myself the way I am. But know this… If I do become Hokage, if I do accept… I won't be anyone's puppet, anyone's whipping boy. I don't care how things have always been done. I will do what I think is right, what I think is good. And rest assured; I hold very little stock in what most of you say or think. I have experienced all the 'wisdom' Konoha has to offer, and I have always found it… lacking."

Once more, he pinned them all with his eyes, and was met with stoic silence.

Finally, one by one, they rose to their feet and followed the Hyuuga's lead. And when Tsunade stepped up to him, to drape the white Hokage robe's around his shoulders, and gently placed the triangular hat upon his head, he did not gainsay her.

Naruto Uzumaki was now the Hokage of Konoha.


	23. Chapter 23

Innocence From Ashes

Innocence From Ashes

Chapter 23

Naruto stood upon the balcony of the finest hotel of Konoha, and watched the revelers late into the night. Long was the celebration of his ascendancy to Hokage, and filled with merriment. As before, he was once again struck by the fickleness of the villagers. Less than thirty six hours before, he'd been ready to kill every one of them, save for his precious few. Yet, here they were, toasting him, laughing, and gaming as if he was a returning hero.

Sasuke, sitting on the balcony railing, his feet dangling dangerously high over the cobblestones below, had his fingers laced through Naruto's as he watched the partygoers below impassively.

Naruto smiled up at his mate softly, thinking how incredibly much things had chanced since the old days. Back when he was young and naive. Well, he was still young, but no longer naïve. At least he thought so. And in many ways, he wasn't. But in so many more, he was still innocence personified. It was something intrinsic within him, his purity and innocence. Naturally, it was not at all good Hokage qualities. But they'd never been good shinobi qualities either, and before his enslavement so long ago, he'd done quite well in that field indeed.

And now his natural purity was reinforced by the inherent innocence of a demonic nature. He did not look at good and evil the same way as he did before. And as a result, he did not look at life or death the same either.

The old Naruto would have been horrified, almost deranged in his grief after his demonic bout the day before that thirteen Konohans dead. He did not mourn them. Most he remembered well from his painful childhood and adolescence. No, he was wise and inhumane enough now to know they had always been better off dead. In fact, there were more than a few others on that list as well. They either hadn't been close enough to indulge in yesterday's bloodlust, or for whatever reason, had refrained. It didn't matter. One way or another, he would find a way to winnow them out.

Besides, there were worse things than dying after all. Naruto had experienced almost all of them himself, first hand. But he wouldn't dwell on that. What he would dwell on was what his own death had taught him. Death wasn't the be all and end all of mortal existence. When he called Kyuubi back from his blood fury in Sound, he'd been dead for some time. Yet, he was still there. Some part of him had leaked into the fox's spirit. Perhaps because of the slow merging that had been going on between them since the demon spirit had been sealed in him. Who knows? Naruto didn't. But it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, both to himself and to Sasuke, and to a lesser extent, all those that had witnessed their deaths over a week ago, that there was something beyond the cessation of heartbeat and brainwave. What lay beyond that, Naruto neither knew or cared. He either would experience it for himself at some far future date; either as the mortal he used to be, or as the demon he now was, or he would live forever. It was a pretty moot point right now.

What mattered to him right now was that he was alive, and well, and his hand was securely in Sasuke's and that they would be together forever. Alive or dead.

"Don't think so hard, Dobe," Sasuke spoke up finally, sliding off the railing. "The only thing that matters is that we're together, forever. You're mine, forever." The

ebony wolf was almost unbearably smug and satisfied with this state of affairs. And he gave a slow, lascivious lick to the tender, sensitive flesh of the blonde's neck. "I want you, Hokage-sama. Deep. Hard. Now."

At first Naruto gave a pleased whimper, then a shocked gasp when Sasuke pulled the blonde into his arms fiercely and stunned him with the heat and hunger of his kiss. Caught in each other's arms, drinking greedily of each other, they staggered back into the hotel room and Naruto half fell onto an elaborately worked table and Sasuke with him, which creaked alarmingly under their weight. Neither of them noticed. Sasuke's hand was on his whiskered cheek, holding him still for a deeper kiss, one knee nudging the blonde's legs apart so he could be cradled between them. Naruto arched up against him, the pressure of his hot hard groin pressed deliciously against an equally rigid heat. He broke the deep kiss to nip Naruto's lips lightly, his hand worming under the vivid shirt to touch and fondle a hardening nipple, to tease it and make it furl even more tightly. The blonde moaned his name so softly, so deliciously. God, he had to take his dobe now, or he would combust.

Naruto whimpered, arching hard again, his tanned hands working to pull Sasuke's flimsy shirt off so he could feel the wolf's bared chest against his own. A soft growl, the sound of ripping cloth, and Naruto's pants fell prey to his guardian's passion. Then Sasuke was sliding himself against tender split of his rear rhythmically, only his own thin pants keeping them from joining. With each thrust against Naruto's body, Sasuke's impassioned body crushed the blonde's enflamed cock between them deliciously, making them both gasp and moan. Then Sasuke had his mouth again, harder and greedier than before. Slithering his hand between them, he stumbled with the fastening of his pants. He was so hot, so engorged, so aroused; he was having a hard time releasing himself. At last he was free, and pressing himself to an enticing wet heat. He felt a moment of stunned confusion; they hadn't even used spit, much less any sort of lubrication, yet Naruto was literally drenched, and more than ready to receive his lover intimately.

Naruto took advantage of his mate's brief befuddlement and lifted his knees to aid the penetration, both of them shivering and moaning. Sasuke's swollen leaking tip lodged in the tightly crinkled and dewy wet entrance to Naruto's body. The wolf shook off his daze, and pulled back slightly, then moving sharply forward to thrust deeply into his precious blonde fox. Then they both froze.

The door to the suite, basically the headquarters for Naruto's ascension party, slammed open violently, and they heard both masculine and feminine laughter; drunken and carefree. Someone was coming in!

Sasuke's hips jerked with the desire to thrust anyway, and he penetrated a little deeper. Then with an oath, he tore his hips from Naruto's. He knew if he finished his thrust, he would not be able to stop, and the consequences would be very embarrassing, at least for Naruto. Sasuke couldn't care less if the whole world watched them make love. Well… okay… then he would have to kill them for seeing his Naruto in such pleasured abandon.

"God, not now," said shy blonde moaned in frustration.

Ah, fuck it. Sasuke made a few quick seals, and all that was left of them were wisps of curling smoke and the clothes that lay scattered everywhere, some, most notably Naruto's pants and underwear, torn to ribbons.

Back at the Uzumaki compound, they found Kyuubi conspicuously absent. Later, they would find out why, but at the moment, they couldn't spare him a thought. They could feel his chakra close by, calm and serene. Well, as calm and serene as a demon fox, ex lord could ever be amid humanity. Right now they had other things on their mind. Naruto was still completely enraptured, as Sasuke was still hovering against his most sensitive bits, pressing and thrusting gently against him to keep the blonde in sexual thrall.

He giggled, feeling almost drunk on Sasuke's urgent kisses. It had been so long since they had indulged in such frantic, heady passion. Surely, they'd made love just that morning, but that was something entirely different. Right now he needed his teme's wild passion, his sometimes rough pleasure. And to encourage this, tanned fingers nimbly danced between their heated bodies, reaching in to cup Sasuke's naked erection.

He groaned into Naruto's mouth and thrust himself several times into that warm and willing hand.

"Take me, Sasuke-teme, I need you so much. Make love to me now. Right now. Oh please." Naruto begged him, catching both of their weeping erections together and sliding them against each other entreatingly.

"Fuck… Naruto…" Sasuke groaned, mind spinning with desire. Without bothering with any more words, his mouth found the blonde's again, and he slid his body enticingly against the other's. The friction was delicious. Naruto moaned, his entire body delicately flushed with arousal, and his knees weakening. Gently Sasuke lowered his mate to the rug, pleased with the responses he was drawing from his dobe. Damn, Naruto felt so damned good. As Sasuke's mouth hungrily devoured his, his thumbs lightly flicked erect nipples, making Naruto quake.

The gold fox arched up to him with a gasp deep into his mouth; a soft cry of his own, for he was burning with need. Bare beneath his black wolf's heated eyes, Naruto felt on fire, and it was unbearable. "Please," he whispered, thrusting his hips up.

Using the pleasing squirming of the other, Sasuke lowered his body, his breath warm on Naruto's straining erection. His back arched, bringing the swollen, leaking close to Sasuke's parted lips. He sighed softly, seeing Naruto entreat him so, his breath washing hotly over it, making the little fox groan helplessly. He kissed the reddened tip, which hardened all the more, and Naruto whimpered, his fingers sinking into his thick black hair. His mouth worried it deliciously, teeth gently nipping, tongue firmly laving it. Naruto cried out, sensation exploding through his body, and quivering legs came up to clasp Sasuke's bare sides. The Uchiha's hands slid down that slim waist, over hips and thighs. With tender fingers, he reached up and stroked the soft dewy golden fur that so deliciously encircled Naruto's manhood.

"Oh, god, Teme," the moan was forced from his lips by gently inquisitive fingers sliding deliciously up and down his heated shaft while those pale lips suckled the tip so forcefully. Naruto's knees drew up, almost to his chin, and he trembled like a leaf in the wind as the fingers of another hand began to slowly probe his dripping entrance. Sasuke was surprised anew to feel how wetly snug, how tightly slick he was inside. He lifted his head, the plum taut head sliding free, but his fingers worked slowly deeper, feeling more heat and wetness.

"Ah, fuck," he breathed softly, this time over Naruto's unblemished navel, and the blonde shivered harder, still exquisitely sensitive there. "You're so damn wet and ready for me, Koi." Before Naruto's deeper blushing could fully kick in, Sasuke softly licked that perfect navel. His fingers delved even more deeply into his dobe's quaking body, exploring him as far as he could. Then he stilled and shuddered. Naruto was so very hot, so excruciatingly tight, so inexplicably yet exquisitely wet; he could not bear it. He would take his mate lustily, as he wanted and needed to. Oh, god, how he would ride him!

Naruto cried out when that mouth and those fingers stilled, arching against him in desperation. "Teme," he begged breathlessly, "stop teasing me! Please, please take me. Love me. Love me now." Slim fingers tugged insistently on dark hair.

He knew he couldn't, not yet. He would never last. If he entered Naruto now, he would come immediately. He was an Uchiha; he couldn't have that. He wanted it to last. He had to taste him, to drink of his climax before he risked penetrating the delicious blonde. His lips found a hard tip again, and Naruto gave a small cry of astonishment. When Sasuke's tongue found his tender slit and flicked it, he shuddered.

"Teme, god, what… what are you doing… my god… I can't… I'm gonna…" The words were lost in a long low moan of pleasure, and he came hotly into a smirking mouth. Sasuke latched on even harder, drinking deeply as the blonde writhed and contorted in pleasurable agony, his body a high, hard arch of climax. Finally, Naruto collapsed, and lay there, panting wildly, his fingers knotted in inky hair.

Sasuke shuddered, the taste of his mate thick and sweet on his tongue. God, how he loved making Naruto come in his mouth. His penis was throbbing painfully, swollen to the point of bursting. He'd come a little too, and he could feel the hot sticky wetness of the rug fibers against his pulsing organ. He found he was thrusting gently against the carpet. He had to do it, whether he came right away or not. He had to have his dobe's hot tight core against his heated iron shaft; he had to release his scalding seed into Naruto's pulsing sheath.

Softly, he bit Naruto's tip, and the little fox gasped, and Sasuke felt it twitch against his tongue. Fuck, Naruto was such a responsive creature. Good. He battered that swollen bulb with his tongue until it lurched against his lips, tiny beads of sweetness oozing from it. Naruto was gasping and sobbing with pleasure and abandon, and Sasuke felt his mate was close to another orgasm. Even better. He bit it softly again, gently raking lip sheathed teeth against it, and Naruto screamed in pleasure, arching hard in climax once more.

Now, god, now.

Sasuke slid up Naruto's body, riding the crest of his arch. With one hand gripping his jerking shaft as it spat a little again in his excitement, the other spread spasming cheeks wide. With one smooth gliding motion, he thrust deeply into his mate. Naruto screamed again, his orgasm almost intolerably pleasurable. Sasuke's penis had driven so hard and fast into him, splitting him wide open, and he was mindless with pleasure. When that rod drove deeply into him, Sasuke's hands fell away, pushing Naruto's thighs up and open, until his knees were just below his chin again. Sasuke's mouth fused to his, swallowing those delicious screams, making little animal moans and grunts of his own as he rode his dobe hard and deep. He was coming in him, oh god, so hard and deep. His penis twitched and jerked, and he shuddered wildly, emptying himself into his blonde's slick and silken depths. He was riding him so hard, he was pushing Naruto's body across the rug with every violent thrust, but it was so good, for both of them. Finally, he could take no more, and ground himself into other, and both of them felt his penis throbbing and writhing so deeply embedded, felt each hot pulsating jet of semen that exploded into his body, mirrored by hot wet splashes against Sasuke's belly.

That night, they never made it to bed, but fell deep into slumber, wet, sticky, and still tangled together. Tomorrow was soon enough for deep thoughts and actions again. Tomorrow was soon enough to be Lord and Guardian. But right now, they were simply Naruto and Sasuke; lovers, mates, friends, and together… forever.

Owari

AN… Heh, once more, we have come to the end. I know I promised unending fluff, but that simply wasn't as possible as I first thought, being the sequel to such a dark and angsty story. Still, I hope I did not disappoint anyone with this offering. I ended it on a lemon, because I dearly love to read and write them, and I noticed such citrusy goodness has been conspicuously rare in both stories.

And I'm sorry these last two chapters were so delayed in coming. I've been burning the candle too ferociously lately; writing as soon as I get up, and as soon as I get back home from work. Somehow writing until the wee sma's of the night, then getting up a few hours later to do it all over again took it's toll, and I slept almost three days straight. When I woke up, then I had to deal with all the anxieties of tax season. But I'm awake again now, and I've finally filed my returns, to my unmitigated relief. Whew.

And I have another apology to make; I read, and seldom review. Forgive me. It makes all you faithful reviewers that much nearer and dearer to my heart; you are generous where I am selfish; you are giving, and I scarcely deserve it. I have tried to answer each one, but sometimes, especially lately, my time at the library is so scarce, I haven't been able to do that. I've had to put the majority of them in a 'catch up' folder. Heh. One day, soon I hope, I will sort them, and respond to them all. Again, forgive me for my lack of responses. Just know I have read each and every one of them, and have held them tight to my heart. I couldn't have finished this story without them, and you.

Oh, and this story is not over yet. Though I doubt I will write multi chapters (though one never knows!) there are still many issues and events that I wanted to include that somehow just didn't fit in. Thus, I will be submitting one and few-shots of things that are near and dear to my heart.

And yes, Ubiko, whose eyes look uncannily into my heart, our beloved Naruto will experience all the delights of heat. I can't wait!

Again, my thanks and gratitude to all my most precious reviewers. Once more, your kind and effusive words went straight to my head like a fine wine, and if I begin to be unbearably egotistical, well, that would be a shame. I couldn't have done any of this without all of you, and well I know it. You have uplifted me and inspired me when I needed it most, and I am grateful.

I love you all!

Ren.


End file.
